


The Silent Ranger and a Curious Princess

by nooneshome12



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dark, F/M, More tags added, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), POV Alternating, Ranger!Link, Shy!Zelda, Slavery, War, Zelda's family ISNT terrible
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:02:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28076664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nooneshome12/pseuds/nooneshome12
Summary: Link didn't expect to live for that long. Most don't even last a year in the Frontier and he had come to terms with it, knowing that any day could be his last. But when the Princess of Hyrule pays his Ranger outpost a visit, he realizes that maybe life doesn't need to be so short.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 147





	1. Link I

**Author's Note:**

> So, I had this idea floating around in my head for the past few weeks and needed an outlet for all my ideas. I already have the first few chapters outlined but I can't really focus on this until my finals are over, so in the mean time let me know if you would want me to write more! Kudos and comments would be most appreciated since I'm trying out something different here and would like to gage what I'm doing right and wrong. I got inspired from a few different places, mostly Game of Thrones so gets dark but I'll be sure to put in a warning at the beginning of the chapter.

If there was one thing Link knew, it was that looks can be deceiving.

A simple merchant passing through an outpost could really be a murderer from Castletown and is hiding out on the Frontier, praying to the Goddesses that no one would recognize his face. Or the mother who would come to the outpost screaming, telling him that her husband was kidnapped by Gerudo slavers, could be the person who sold him into slavery to get some money and escape her boring, mundane life as a farmer’s wife.

And if there was one person, place or thing that this old adage applied to, it would certainly be the Faron Frontier. When looking at a painting of one of it’s magnificent fields or just passing through on one of it’s unpaved, dirt roads it looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale. Lush green forests as far as the eye could see, with breathtaking waterfalls near the Gerudo Highlands and maybe passing through one of the villages dotted along the roads for a drink at it’s tavern.

But those beautiful scenes were a mirage, a trick from the Goddesses themselves and a cruel one at that.

Those same forests that seemed never ending certainly could be to a lost traveler who wandered too far from the road. And never ending does not have to be literal, just has to be longer than a three days walk before that lost traveler runs out of water and dies from thirst. Of course that’s assuming a bear or wild animal doesn’t get to them first. Or those waterfalls that many young lovers see as a perfect place to get away and have a nice romantic evening alone was like ringing the dinner bell for slavers and bandits. More than twice a month there would be reports of a poor couple getting sold into slavery or robbed of all their worth.

The Frontier was a dangerous place. The locals knew it, the Rangers who patrolled it knew it, Link only wished visitors knew it. That whoever was spreading the rumor that the Frontier was an amazing place to start over and build a new life there would drop dead. That people realized that even though the Kingdom of Hyrule has been in control of this region for hundreds of years, it’s still dubbed the “Frontier” and not “Faron Province”. That proper knights would be patrolling the roads, not Rangers.

Of course, if that last wish were true Link would be out of a job. His time as a Ranger had taught him all of this firsthand. His first kill was in these woods, his first time with a woman was in these woods, his first time seeing the true depravity of mankind was in these woods. In a place where the nearest Ranger could be a day's ride away, it really shouldn’t have surprised him at how dangerous Faron could really be.

Being a Ranger for the past few years certainly made him see things he wished he had not, but the worst to him were the slavers. Hyrule had abolished slavery centuries ago after a King and his son fought a civil war over the issue, however being so close to the Gerudo border where slavery is still alive and well made the isolated Frontier a perfect place for slavers to pick their prey.

Setting up outposts by the valley connecting the two Kingdoms didn’t slow the slave trade down in the slightest. Most of the time, they walked up to the men on guard and paid them a fraction of what they would sell their merchandise for at the slave markets at Kara Kara. It was immoral and vile, but Link came to expect these sorts of things.

His only saving grace was that they had to make it to the border in order to bride the Rangers there. That was something Link made sure wouldn’t happen.

\--------------------------------------------------

As much as Link despised slavers, he had to admit that he loved their clear disregard for subtlety. It made finding them a lot easier.

He had been on patrol near the Gerudo Highlands but still aways from the valley crossing so he had been on the lookout for any signs of slavers. So when he saw a smoke stack a few hundred feet high, he had to check out its source. Even if it was a natural fire he had to find and notify the nearby villages.

Coming into the clearing he didn’t know what to expect but when he saw a small barn on fire with all the animals out front slaughtered, he knew he was dealing with slavers. A quick check of the house only confirmed his suspicions, anything of value was missing. While it could have been a bandit, they usually don’t kidnap their victims since they couldn’t expect a large ransom for a farmer and his family when they live out in the middle of nowhere.

Taking a look around, it seems like the slavers didn’t care if they had left any track behind. The path that led out from the clearing was riddled with footprints, and a set of hooves and tread marks from a wagon. Link guessed that it was only a day and a half ride before they made it to the border outpost, and judging that the fire was still fresh they must have only been here an hour ago.

Another thing he admired slavers for was their lack of urgency along with their lack of subtlety. Even though they were in a foreign country where they were committing a crime that would result in a trip to the chopping block, they didn’t realize time was of the essence and for that he was grateful. He had only been following the tracks for two hours before he heard the familiar taunts of a Gerudo slaver. He heard it all before, mostly addressing the women or children to try and scare them so that they don’t try and escape. It always made him sick to his stomach no matter how many times he had heard it.

One thing he didn’t admire in slavers was that they always travelled in groups. And while it would make sense, it always made killing them much more difficult. Luckily, this group only had three men, one steering the wagon with the other two in front of said wagon. This was both a positive and a negative, the positive being that no one was watching the rear. The negative was that taking out two men standing next to each other was a lot more difficult than a man by himself. But no one said that this was supposed to be easy.

In this situation taking out the man on the wagon was the first priority. He was closest to the people in chains making him the most likely to use them as a hostage. Since he was trailing the wagon he could have gotten a better angle so that he didn’t risk hitting the family, so instead of trying to run ahead Link decided to bid his time. He knew this road and he knew that in a few hundred feet, they would have to take a sharp left turn.

Sure enough, he saw the intersection coming up. It's hallmark sign pointing left or right. Left towards the Gerudo Valley or right towards Hateno. “Oi! Ashad, hold up. Gotta take a leak, don’t take off with the merchandise!”

Link looked up and saw one of the men up front take off into the woods, with the wagon coming to a complete stop. Silently thanking the Goddesses as he took his bow off his back and knocked an arrow, taking cover behind a tree only twenty feet from the back of the wagon. Sneaking another glance the Gerudo on the wagon was staring ahead while he saw the other man that was in front of the wagon pacing around the cage, hitting the side of it with his sword. “Don’t worry sweetheart. I’m sure you’re going to love your new home….you’ve got the body for a pleasure house. Maybe I’ll come visit after I sell you to your master...would you like that?”

“P..please...just let us go..we’ll pay you whatever you want.” The woman said, holding her young daughter to her chest.

“Oh, but you already have! We got all the rupees you had stashed at that shit stain of a house. You really should be than-”

He didn’t get to finish before an arrow went right through his neck, his body lurched against the metal bars of the change with a loud clang. As soon as the arrow left his bow, Link was already nocking another and moving for a better angle on the one remaining. Unfortunately, he heard the sound of his dead comrade hitting the cage and immediately jumped off the side to get to cover. While his immediate instinct was to draw his sword, he paused knowing that there was still another one unaccounted for and didn’t want to chance it.

Link held the advantage, so he chose to wait it out. The longer he waited, the more likely it was for the slaver to make a mistake. Link kept his bow drawn and ready to lose an arrow the first chance he had. Sure enough, after less than a minute he saw the top of the slaver's head peek up from the side of the wagon and with a flick of the wrist, an arrow went right between his eyes and down he went.

Link had always excited caution while out in the wild, it’s why he managed to live so long. Ranger’s didn’t exactly have the longest life expectancy so he was hoping to be the outlier. But, seeing that poor family caught in the middle almost made him come out from the bushes and try and get them out. The sound of the last remaining slaver coming back prompted him to nock one more arrow.

“Oh Din!” He yelled when he saw two of his friends with arrows in their heads. Link didn’t even give him one more second to think about how to retaliate or more likely run away.

Now that it was all clear, Link emerged from his hiding spot. He heard a gasp from the woman in the cage, looking over she still had her child in a vice grip to her chest with the man who he assumed to be her husband knocked presumably from when they were abducted.

“Oh three blessings to you, Ranger! Goddess bless you! See Hilda? We’re alright..we’re gonna be alright.” The woman managed to croak out, with tears or joy falling down her cheeks. Link gave her a reassuring smile as he searched the body of the one with the arrow in the neck, it didn’t take long to find a key.

With the keys jangling in his hand, Link made his way to the back of the wagon where the cage opened up. It must have felt like more than just a few seconds for the mother and daughter before Link found the right key for the lock. But once he did, Link heard another sigh escape the woman, she must have been putting on a brave face for the child still held tightly to her chest as her sigh quickly turned into sobs.

“Th...thank you so much, Ranger. I...don’t even want to imagine what would have happened to me and my family if you hadn’t arrived when you did.”

‘Only bad things, so best not to think about them.’ He thought to himself.

After getting them out of the cage and giving the man a once over. Other than a splitting headache whenever he woke up, he’d be fine. Relatively speaking of course, physically he’d be fine but mentally is a different story.

Just another day in the Faron Frontier.


	2. Zelda I

The “Hidden Beauty” is what she was called.

And while the word “hidden” implies she was kept from view intentionally by her parents, it was actually the opposite. Her mother and father both encouraged her to go out and meet with various members of the Hylian Nobility, make some friends or at the very least have a conversation with someone that wasn’t an old Sage who would barely walk without the assistance of a cane. But it didn’t take a genius to see that being able to start and hold a conversation about something other than the science behind Elixirs or old Zonai customs wasn’t in her repertoire, which in her life was less than ideal.

It wasn’t as if she tried to avoid other people, atleast at first. As much as it pained her to take a break from her studies, she eventually had to leave her room. So she would go to a sewing session with her mother and other women of the court or have tea with a Lord’s son. But she quickly found that both of those excursions required an above average ability to hold a conversation, always ending in an awkward silence because of her clear lack of social skills. Eventually, she stopped trying and found herself back in the comfort of her own room, reading about ancient civilizations or potion making. 

So she wasn’t a very good Princess to say the least. Good Princesses spend time singing, dancing or learning to play an instrument, and doing all that while learning what it takes to be a good wife to her children. Good Princesses gossiped about other members of court on their appearance, all while being outfitted in the finest silks in the entire kingdom.

Princess Zelda Nayru Hyrule V wasn’t a very good singer or dancer. While she was proficient in the harp, that would require playing in front of others and that was a no go from her so she hadn’t touched one in years. While her mother tried to teach her how to be a proper lady, she quickly found out Zelda was only a quick learner in subjects she was interested in and that was not one of them. She detested gossip, mostly because she was the subject of most of it around the court and she really didn’t prioritize her appearance, forgoing her formal bright blue silk dress most days and settling on a much more modest green dress that had mistaken her a servant many times. 

Needless to say, with all of her faults in the eyes of the Hylian nobility, she never expected to accompany her father on a diplomatic trip to the neighboring Kingdom of Labrynna. But no matter how undesirable her behavior was, she was still a Princess, a tool to be used, nothing more. 

She thought her Father was better than that. 

\-------------------------------------------------------

“Might I ask what you’ve been writing about for the past hour?”

“My thoughts.” 

Zelda knew her reply was more cold than she had intended, but didn’t have any intention on letting her Father know that. In truth she was writing down what she was thinking and by the Three Goddesses, was a lot on her mind. 

This whole trip to Labrynna had been mind boggling from the start. Why did her Father want her out of all of his children to accompany him on a diplomatic mission? Her Father knew all too well about her inability to hold conversations with people she liked, let alone foriegn dignitaries. Why not take either of her younger brothers, especially the one who is heir to the throne? All of her questions went unanswered for the weeks it took to arrive at Labrynna, and even for a majority of their stay. That was until the last few days when she was introduced to the Kings second born son, Edmure when all of the pieces came together.

“Any of those thoughts involve me being the worst father ever?” The King shot back with a small smile on his face. 

She looked up from her journal to her father, who was looking out the opening of the carriage. Zelda knew it was meant in jest but could still tell her father meant it, so her mood softened only slightly. “A few.”

Her Father, King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, under all the jewels, silks and gold was a very anxious man. One would not guess that just looking at him, from his great blonde beard and tall stature. He made sure to act everybit of the King that he knew he had to be, even in private around his heirs. They needed to know what it meant to be King, but Zelda was different. 

She was his firstborn, his pride and joy from the moment she opened her bright green eyes. Even from a young age, she had him wrapped around her finger. He simply adored her, so as she got older and decided to spend more time with her books than with other girls her age, he let her. The older she got, the more her Father opened up to her. His fears, troubles and worries. He let her in where her brothers had been shut out. Was it healthy for him? No, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“You know I didn’t mean it, Papa. Just let me be mad for a few more hours. I’ll be over it by tomorrow.” Zelda said, knowing that his mind would be stuck on her thinking he was a terrible father for the rest of the trip home.

“I know that you have every right to be angry, at me in particular. But I feared if I told you at the start why I was taking you to Labrynna then you would have been a bundle of nerves the entire trip! I wanted you to enjoy your time there, seeing as how you rarely get to see outside Castletown, I wanted you to be happy.” He reached out and grabbed one of her hands halfway through his tirade. “I tried my best to shelter you from everything. Give you as much time as you wanted to do what you pleased, to live your life for what you wanted and no one else. All of my advisors told me that your place was not in the library learning, but with other women of the court. That you should spend more time with your mother to learn what it means to be the wife of a ruler. I told all of them that as long as I am your Father you could do what you pleased. I wanted, still want you to do what you want, to be the scholar I know that you can be. But, I can’t keep you sheltered anymore, the real world had to break through eventually. That’s partially why I didn’t tell you about Prince Edmure, I didn’t have the stomach to tell you that I couldn’t keep you hidden anymore.”

Zelda didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything at all and instead got up and wrapped her father in a hug. Deep down she had always known she was living on borrowed time. That eventually she’d have to marry some Prince or Lord and give them heirs, raise said heirs and give up on all of her aspirations of becoming a scholar. Her Mother had reassured her, saying that if her betrothed was a true gentleman, then he would allow her to study as she pleased, but there were few nobles that wanted a wife that was smarter than them. She just never imagined it would have been this soon, she had only turned eighteen a fortnight ago. She thought she had more time.

“I’m sorry, Papa.”

“Nothing to be sorry for. I have always tried to put you and your brothers above what was best for the Kingdom but I can only go so far before I have to do what's best.” He said, letting go of her as she sat back across from him. 

“I know, that’s more important.”

The King didn’t immediately reply, only nodding his head with a sad smile on his face. “Unfortunately, if I had my way I’d let you spend the rest of your life doing as you pleased. Goddesses, if I really had my way I wouldn’t be King but we have to work with what we are given.”

Zelda gave her father a smile, looking out the window to the lush, green forests of the Frontier, wondering if she’d ever get to feel the freedom of those who lived here. Sure, being a peasant was the farthest thing from an easy life. And she wasn’t naive, she knew that many peasants went to sleep hungry, cold or afraid of what the next day would bring. She had never experienced any of those things, but she still imagined what it would be like just to live free of expectations of the court or nobility. No Princes to marry, no heirs to sire, just a life to live. 

“You don’t like him do you?” 

“I….no. I don’t.” She said vehemently, leaving nothing up for interpretation. 

“I suspected as much. You know, me and your Mother weren’t so fond of each other when our parents made the arrangement.”

“What? Really? But, you both are so….”

“In love? Well, yes and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, but both of us wanted to choose who we wanted to marry and not our parents.”

This was news to Zelda, as long as she could remember her parents' relationship was as steady as could be, almost straight out of a fairy tale. “What changed?”

“Our parents noticed our friction and figured if we met enough times, we’d learn to be civil with each other. And oddly enough they were right. Your mother learned about my nervousness of becoming King and I learned about her family sucking up to my father for years just to get her betrothed to me. Our shared nervousness connected us and when we realized that, we were able to build from there. So time to actually get to know each other is what led to over twenty years of marriage.” Rhoam said with one of his rare smiles. 

“But Prince Edmure isn’t either of you. He’s an immature, pompous jerk who spent nearly all of our time together galavanting about his achievements and how amazing he is. I mean, I’m glad he spent the whole time talking, otherwise it would have been an excruciating few hours knowing how well I handle conversations.” Zelda said as she crossed her arms.

Her Father reached across the carriage and put his hand on her knee, “Maybe he’s just trying to impress you or he's so anxious about meeting you that he’s trying to oversell himself. You’ll never know until you see him again and try to talk to him. I know that’s difficult for you, but it’s worth a try.”

Locking eyes with her, Rhoam could tell that she didn’t seem convinced. “But don’t worry too much, the betrothal is not even official yet. It’s up to Edmure’s father if he finds this betrothal beneficial.”

“Beneficial? I’m your only daughter, I would assume that would be enough for him.” 

“With how tense our relations with the Gerudo are, it’s understandable why he wouldn’t want to enter in a marriage alliance with us. I fear it’s too far gone to fix with just words.”

“I won’t disappoint you, Papa.”

“You can never disappoint me.” He gave her knee a supportive squeeze before leaning back in his seat. It was only quiet for a few moments as the Captain of the Royal Guard, Kokri rode up next to the royal’s carriage on his horse. 

“Your Grace, we won’t be able to make it through the Frontier before nightfall, I suggest we stay the night at the closest Ranger Outpost.” 

“I’m sure Commander Aru won’t mind an impromptu royal inspection.” The King shot back with a smile. 

Kokri only nodded his head, prompting his horse to head to the front of the escort, leaving Zelda and the King alone again. And without her Father prompting any more conversation about Prince Edmure, she was quickly swept back up into her fantasies of travelling the Frontier, searching for long lost Zonai ruins or rare species of beetles. Maybe even travelling with a cute boy who could help her research. 

Goddesses above, she really was hopeless. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's part 2! So my plan was that the first two chapters introduce both our main characters and kind of set up who they are first all while sprinkling in some story beats. So don't worry, the next chapter is when things really kick off! That's another question I have, would you guys prefer if I alternated POV every chapter or would it be better to have a few chapters following Link or Zelda? And just like with last chapter, let me hear any criticism of this since I'm still trying out something new. Other than that, see you next monday! (Hopefully)


	3. Link II

“Oi! Link, get yer lazy ass outta bed!”

Most would assume that the worst part of being a Ranger had to be the almost ridiculously high mortality rate, but for Link it had to be the erratic sleep schedule.

Being out on patrol as often as he was meant spending more time out in the wild, sleeping on the ground praying to the Three Goddesses that a bear wouldn’t roam into his campsite while he was asleep. Sure, he was paranoid but in this line of work, Rangers who didn’t think the world was out to get them, weren't Rangers for very long. Needless to say, he didn’t sleep much while on patrol.

When he was back at the outpost was a completely different story. Ranger Outposts were meant to be a place for Rangers to rest, eat, drink or train while not actively on duty, Link however treated them as a place for him to sleep over half the day away and spend the other half eating. He’d eat and sleep so much that he had garnered a reputation for being lazy while not on patrol, which was not untrue. But why shouldn’t he be lazy while he was off duty, he spent weeks out in the most dangerous region of Hyrule, risking his life for people that would never know his name, nor bat an eye if he would die as soon as he fixed their problems.

“Dammit, boy! I’m not gonna tell you again, the Commander wants us front and center in five minutes!” 

Link wasn’t even able to give his bunkmate a reply before he felt a pair of hands grab him by the shoulder and pull him out of bed. With his bottom half still in bed and his top half upside down, he shot a dirty look at the older man, not missing the small smile on his face. “ _Couldn’t have given me a few more minutes, Cado?”_

“I can barely read Sign when you’re sitting upright, son. Nevermind when you’re upside down.” Cado replied as he threw Link’s tunic and trousers at him. “I’ll be in the yard waiting. If I don’t see you out there in five minutes I’m coming back in here with a Boko club.”

With that, the old Sheikah left the room leaving Link covered in his clothes. A small part of him wanted to close his eyes for just a few more minutes, but the rational part of his brain knew when Cado said something, he meant it. Link let out a small sigh, sitting upright and getting ready. Before he could put his tunic on, he had to throw some water on his face. Luckily, Cado had filled the bucket of water in the corner of the room sometime before Link had been rudely woken up.

He threw some on his face, hoping that this was some stupid drill that would take less than an hour.

\--------------------------------------------------

It wasn’t a drill. 

Instead, the twenty or so Rangers currently at the outpost were informed that the King and Princess of Hyrule would be staying the night. Commander Aru told ten of his men to patrol the surrounding area for the next day or so and alert him of any oddities, with Faron being so close to the Gerudo border it was best to be extra careful of slavers or bandits. The ten remaining would stay at the outpost and continue with whatever they were doing, thankfully for Link he was one of the ten remaining at the outpost so it would be back to bed for him.

Unfortunately, his commander had different plans for him. Just as Link was about to walk past him and head back to his room, Aru stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. “A word?”

Taking one look at his commander, Link knew that he was concerned about something, and that something was most likely him so he could only nod his head and follow Aru out of the courtyard and into the empty mess hall. Both men sat down at a table in the corner, away from prying eyes. 

“ _What is it, Aru.”_

The old man didn’t reply immediately, instead he let out a nervous sigh and ran a hand through his long grey hair. “Saw that family you saved the other day while on patrol. The mother, Pema I believe her name was, couldn’t stop thanking the Rangers and you specifically. Even her daughter kept telling me about how she wanted to be like you when she grew up.”

Aru was never one to beat around the bush, so Link knew something was off. “ _I was only doing my job, But, what's your point, Aru?”_

“Have you ever thought about a life like that?”

“ _A life like what?”_

“A family. You know, something to look forward to in the morning that didn’t involve endless patrols or bandit raids?”

If Link was completely honest with himself, he tried not to. Being a Ranger gave him a purpose, even a purpose that rarely benefited himself. He had never wanted to think about where he would be in a year, a month or even a week, mainly because he didn’t know if he’d still be alive by then. When most men join the Rangers, it wasn’t out of some sense of honor or duty like a knight, it was usually because they had very few options. Link was one of those men. Being mute usually doesn’t open up many careers to pursue. “ _Not really.”_

“Well you should. We’re all dead men walking, where the next day could be our last. That’s a life meant for men who have nothing to live for, but not for you, Link. Please don’t waste your life here.” Aru said, sounding as if he was almost pleading at Link.

“ _What is there to waste? I’m a mute with no family, no money, no title. If I left where would I go? Castletown? I’d have better luck teaching a Goron to fly than finding a living there.”_

“I don’t know, but I can tell you that anywhere is better than here. What about that Ranch outside Kakariko? You were close with the owner's daughter, Malon? Maybe look there, you’re great with horses.”

_“ Her father doesn’t like me very much and would never dream of hiring me. And Malon’s getting married to some rich farmer from Ordon.”_ Words weren’t needed to see the mix of sadness and anger on his face. The last thing he needed to be reminded of right now was Malon.

“My point still stands, you can find good work out there. You see the worst in people, you think that the first and only thing people see in you is your inability to speak. I think you’ll be surprised at how many opportunities you’ll get.”

“ _You’re speaking as if I agreed to leave.”_

“I am, call it wishful thinking. I can get you a good job in Hateno or Meya, old friends of mine and your father, blacksmiths, cooks, stable masters. All I need is say the word and they would gladly take you on as their apprentice.”

Link could only scowl at the thought. “ _Sure, tell them that Cali’s mute son who has nowhere else to go needs a job._ ”

“Link! Please listen to me! You’re killing yourself out there. You’re out on patrol longer than any other Ranger and come back looking like you're one of those Redeads from legends. I can’t even remember the last time I saw you smile, not the fake one I see you give travellers but a genuine smile. You’ve been surrounded by violence, death and misery your entire life. Take it from me, that isn’t a life worth living.”

Link didn’t know what to say. Part of him wanted to keep pushing back against his guardian, to tell him that if he wanted to slowly kill himself then that’s what he would do. Another part of him however, knew that Aru was right. He wanted to leave and do something with his life that didn't involve killing slavers or bandits. He always prided himself on his cooking, maybe starting a bakery somewhere, meeting a cute girl and starting a family. But it was only a dream, and dreams rarely come true. 

“Just think about it? That’s all I’m aski-”

Before he could finish, a Ranger came running into the mess. “Commander Aru, the King and Princess are here!” 

Aru gave Link one last look as the two got up from the table and headed to the yard. “Understood, son. Go and prepare their rooms, don’t want to give the royal family a bad impression.”

\-----------------------------------------

“Open the gate!”

Of all the things Link thought he would never see in his life, it was a royal entourage. The Royal Family rarely left Castletown as is, so seeing the grand, champion blue and white carriage being pulled by beautiful white horses felt like he was seeing something out of a fairy tale. The twenty or so members of the Royal Guard accompanying the Royals certainly didn’t make the situation any less daunting. Although the ridiculously high white boots and gloves almost made him snort. 

The carriage came to an abrupt stop in front of Link and Aru, where they could both see the King of Hyrule with the grin of a mad man. “Aru! Hope you don’t mind a visit from your King?”

“Of course not, your grace. I just hope it is up to snuff. Been awhile since we’ve had any visitors of note.” Aru shot back, bowing his head trying to hide the smile on his face. 

“No need to worry about that, as long as there are beds, drinks and some food I’m sure I’ll get along just fine.” By the time the King was finished, one of his entourage opened the door to the carriage, allowing him to walk out and shake Aru’s hand. “It’s been too long, Aru. My wife certainly misses your company at the castle.”

“Her grace is welcome to write anytime she pleases. And it's good to see you too, Rhoam.”

Link would have been paying more attention to Aru and the King if he didn’t spot the Princess coming out from the carriage, with a few books in her arms and trying her best to avoid eye contact with everyone present allowing him only a quick glance at her face. But that quick glance was all he needed to see how gorgeous she was. He had heard songs being sung around various campfires and taverns about how stunning Hyrlue’s Princess was, and those songs didn’t do her any justice. 

He was so distracted that he didn’t notice that the King himself had turned his attention to him. Link immediately straightened his posture so that his spine was as straight as a spear, hoping that the King didn’t see him ogling his daughter. “Hmm, so you’re Cali’s boy? I know you have probably heard this many times but, he was a great man. The greatest swordsman I had ever seen, but an even better man. He would have been so proud of how far you have come.”

Link suppressed the feeling of anger, anxiousness and pure rage boiling up from his stomach and just nodded his head at the King, praying that he knew of his inability to speak. Thankfully he smiled back before turning to look back at his daughter. “Zelda, you’ve met Aru before but I doubt you’d remember him, you were so little when he was still in the Guard.”

“It’s a p-pleasure to see you again, Commander Aru.” She said, only maintaining eye contact with the man for a few seconds before turning her attention back to the ground. 

“The pleasure is all mine, your Highness. I’m sure you both are exhausted from a long day of travelling. Link, why don’t you escort her Highness to her room, I’ll make sure the King makes it to his room before he stumbles into the mess.” 

Zelda looked up and finally held eye contact with Link for more than a second or two. Link really wished he knew he’d be meeting with members of the Royal family when he was dragged out of bed less than an hour ago. He must have looked like shit. But instead of a grimace, the Princess gave him a small smile before walking past her father to stand next to him. 

He gave her a nod and turned on his heels to head towards the guest houses by the barracks. Sneaking a look behind him, he was glad that the Princess followed without a word from him. Unfortunately, she was looking at the back of his head so he got caught staring. Again, the Princess surprised him as she gave him a smile with a blush on her face. “ _Thank you for escorting me to my room._ ”

Link felt his eyes bulge out of his head, did she just sign? If he wasn’t already intrigued by her, he most certainly was now. That wasn’t lost on her apparently, judging by her red face and giggle. “My f-father mentioned you being mute, and I...learned sign language when I was a little girl. I hope I didn’t..overstep I, uh just wanted to show that...I don’t know what really.”

“ _No, you didn’t overstep! If I can be honest with you, I’m glad. Most people don’t notice when they first meet me, so conversations can be a bit awkward.”_ Link was walking backwards, going slower than usual so that he didn’t confuse her. 

“I can sympathize, a lot of my conversations tend to end in awkward silences where I’m supposed to say something but…”

“ _You don’t know what to say. I know how you feel, in case you haven’t noticed I’m not a man of words._ ” Link said, looking behind him to see the guest house that the Princess would be staying in. It was rather simple, just a small bedroom and nothing else. The Rangers never got much funding so they couldn’t spend that much on guest rooms that would rarely be used. Link only hoped that the Princess wouldn’t mind the simplicity. 

She giggled at his sad attempt at a joke, the sound made him smile back at her. “Thank you for the escort, Link. Will...will you be present at dinner?”

“ _I will.”_ He said, not wanting to get his hopes up from the idea that the Princess of Hyrule would want to see him again.

“Good! I’m looking forward to seeing you again!”

And without another glance at him, she walked by and closed the door behind her. Link spent the entire time back to his bunk trying to convince himself that her face wasn’t red as she walked by him. 

**  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally meet! Here's part four and I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am. Had a bit of writers block near the end so I apologize if it's a bit rushed. The comments are really helpful so keep them up! Any criticism is welcome, constructive or otherwise. If you have a negative criticism believe me I've thought of worse. See you next Monday!


	4. Zelda II

Zelda couldn’t help but laugh at how pathetic she was. 

She was the Crown Princess of Hyrule, and while being a Princess didn’t mean much on it’s own, it was still something. And that something meant suitor after suitor coming to Hyrule Castle to come meet with her and beg for her hand in marriage. But, whether they were some foreign Prince or a local Duke’s son, all would leave after having spent the better part of an afternoon with her. Those meetings would leave her running back to her room, slamming the door behind her and leaning against the door with her head in her hands. 

Unsurprisingly, she was in that same position after the very short, but sweet conversation with that Ranger, Link. But unlike all the other instances she found herself in this position, where her only thoughts were her asking why was she so incapable of having a basic conversation over tea, the thoughts going through her head were asking why did she feel more comfortable in a minute conversation with Link than with anyone else she had talked to in the past few months. 

He was just being polite, she reasoned with herself. But she knew that wasn’t the exact reason, everyone was polite to her, it came with being royalty. Even Prince Edmure was polite to her, at first. He even asked her about what she was researching back at Hyrule Castle with the Head Sage, it was as if she was dreaming. Finally a suitor who wanted to let her talk about what she loved to do, instead of drone on and on about their own accomplishments. 

But like the rest of them, after she spent less than half an hour talking about the physical benefits of adding a Hot-Legged Frog into a Hasty elixir, he quickly shifted the conversation to an upcoming jousting tournament. The rest of her visit with the Prince after that was mostly one sided. 

So being polite had nothing to do with it. Goddesses,  _ It?  _ That’s what she was calling it already, it wasn’t even a conversation, just her telling him that she could understand him. Nothing more, nothing less, he probably already forgot about it. Probably already labelling her as a pompous Princess who thought less of him for his muteness. 

Goddesses, she overthought everything. Getting off the door, she threw herself onto her bed, hoping that staring at the wooden ceiling would make her think of anything other than the handsome Ranger. She knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“Nayru help me.”

\----------------------------------

Luckily for the Princess, her journals and some of her belongings, such as her sleep wear were moved into her room shortly after Link escorted her. So instead of just thinking about Link for the next few hours, she spent time writing about him as well. 

Eventually, she heard a knock on her door and opening it revealed none other than the cause of her scattered thoughts, Link. She got more than a passing glance at his face and he was even more handsome under detailed inspection. His bright blue eyes were her favorite quality, with a lot of the nobility intermarriying between each other, blues eyes seemed to have fallen by the wayside, resulting in mostly brown and green eyes in the Capital. So to see someone with blue eyes was already rare,but to see eyes  **_that_ ** blue was something to see. Although he had a somewhat feminine face, it didn’t take any of his beauty away. If anything, it added to it. 

Her eyes went down his face and to his neck where she saw….something off. Was that a scar?

“ _ Dinner’s ready, your highness. _ ” 

“Oh! Of course, I’ll just be a moment. I’m assuming that my father sent you to get me?” Zelda asked, surprised that she didn’t stumble over her words after she spent some time checking him out. 

Link gave her a smile and nodded his head. “ _ He did. He did stress to me that you don’t have to, it can be brought to you out here if you want. _ ”

Her father knew her too well. But as much as she wanted to be by herself, what he said to her in the carriage earlier stuck out to her, she couldn’t keep doing this forever. Eventually she was going to have to be at the very least passable in social situations. And if Link was with her, maybe she could get through this without getting anxious at all the eyes on here. “No, it’s alright. I’ll come.”

She stepped out of her room and motioned for Link to lead the way. She could tell he was nervous to be around her again, speeding up so that he was in front of her, much like how he led her to her guest house. That just wouldn’t do, so she quickened her pace so that she was next to him as opposed to behind, flashing him a small smile when he looked at her. 

“ _ I hope you don’t mind subpar food, your highness. _ ” He signed after giving her a smile. 

“I’m a grown woman, Ranger Link. I think I can handle one night of less than delectable food.” 

“ _ I’ll believe it when I see you eat some of Naran’s stew. _ ” 

Since it was a short walk from the guest houses to the mess, Zelda didn’t have time to respond before voices from the mess could be heard clear as day. Shouts from already drunk Rangers back from patrol and oddly enough, her own father’s voice shouting over them all. Zelda was worried that he was angry at someone, but was relieved to hear his laugh not too long after, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. 

She followed Link to the dinning hall, it was a simple mess hall that had less than a dozen wooden tables in rows with a High Table where she assumed the Ranger hierarchy would sit. Her assumption was quickly proven right when she saw her father sitting next to Commander Aru, with Captain Kokri sitting next to him. Aru was the first to spot her awkwardly standing in the doorway with her hands clasped together, looking at what must have been over thirty men, a mix of Rangers and Royal guards who noticed her arrival. Aru ushered her up to the High Table but she took a look back at Link. “Thank you for escorting me, Ranger.”

Link gave her a bow and gave her a smile, showing his teeth. “ _ Of course, your highness. _ ”

Link left her, headed towards an empty table on the outer edge of the mess. She didn’t want to read into it too much so she headed up to meet with her father, who left the seat next to him empty. She could take a hint and sat down next to him, a young squire setting a bowl of stew in front of her. 

“You know, I’m surprised you came.” 

Zelda didn’t look up from the stew, using her spoon to stir the broth around in the bowl, she had a feeling Link was looking up at her with a grin on his face but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. “You told me you couldn’t keep me sheltered anymore, I need to step out of my little bubble.”

She didn’t need to look over at her father to tell that he had a sad smile on his face. She knew he wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to for his sake, that she could stay locked in her room for months for all he cared. But she knew that she would have to do this eventually, so why not at a small gathering at the edge of the Kingdom instead at a Royal Ball in front of the whole court. 

Her father gave her one last look, then turned to join the conversation between Kokri and Aru where they were talking about some tournament from a few decades ago. She decided to stop staring at the stew and try it, taking a spoonful of the broth with a piece of meat. It didn’t look….awful, but it certainly didn’t look all that great either. Looking up from the stew she spotted Link at his empty table, staring right back at her raising his cup of ale. “ _ Cheers _ .”

She reciprocated the action, only with a spoon and a smile before finally tasting it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the worst thing she had eaten. Even recently, a few of the traditional Labrynnaian meals were absolutely dreadful and this stew was a fruit cake made by the finest bakers in comparison. She shot him a grin as she went in for another bite.

They kept going back and forth, silently signing at each other about various things. Whether it was about how Link could be a better cook than Naran or the combat ineffectiveness of the Royal Guards thigh high boots. 

“ _ If you ask me, they seem to be a bit much, don't you think? _ ” 

“ _ You’re just jealous that they get nice, fancy clothes while you are stuck in that simple leather armor. _ ” Zelda signed back with a sly grin on her face. 

“ _ My armor is practical, it could take a hit from an arrow or sword. I couldn’t say the same for your fancipants guards. _ ” 

“ _ You're lucky that those “fancipants” guards can’t speak Sign, or you’d be challenged to more than a few duels, Ranger. _ ” 

She had expected him to sign something back, but he looked as though a Lynel had snuck into the outpost as all the color disappeared from his face. At first she immediately felt like she did something wrong, maybe pushed him too hard. Figures, the first time she meets someone she feels like she could have a conversation with, she screws it up by insulting them. But her worries were immediately squashed when she looked over to her father and saw him looking right at her. She took a quick look at Link and saw that he was nearly sprinting out of the mess and out into the yard. 

“F-father..I can explain we wer-”

“You were talking..or conversing. I can understand why he would be nervous with me, but you, I can’t. You have exchanged more words with him at dinner than with anyone at the Castle in months! Why would I be anything but happy?” He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

If she was honest with herself, she had a sneaking suspicion why. She was never an expert on how to suppress or disguise her emotions so she feared that even with something as small as having a conversation with Link, her father would see right through her and notice her clear attraction towards the silent Ranger. Again, there was no evidence for this at all, just another thing that her mind had completely fabricated. 

“Go on, I can tell that the only reason why you came to dinner just left. Just don’t do anything like wander off without an escort please.” 

She didn’t need any more prompting as she got up from her chair, thanking Aru for his hospitality and headed towards the yard. 

  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit late with this one, when I went to upload this last night Ao3 was down so had to wait a bit. Comments and kudos are appreciated. And remember, any criticism is welcome no matter how harsh!


	5. Link III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'xxxx'~ means someone is thinking   
> Just a heads up, alot of internal conflict this chapter!

The courtyard was eerily quiet, save for the wisp of an arrow being let loose from a bow. Said arrow was aimed at a typical dummy perched against a post on the other side of the courtyard, where it just missed the dummy’s head. 

Link let out a frustrated huff, quickly nocking another arrow and letting it loose on the poor dummy, finally landing right between the dummy’s eyes, or where eyes would have been if the dummy was a person. Training usually took his mind off of..well, everything. Being a Ranger was anything but simple, but Link had managed to complicate it even more than what was necessary. If there was one thing Link could never do, it was to learn from his mistakes, and goddesses did he make more than a few mistakes. 

It was the King’s all too familiar green eyes that reminded him of that fact. Getting attached too quickly was one of Link’s trademarks, it happened with Malon and it had happened again with Zelda. ‘Zelda? What are you on a first name basis with her already, you idiot. Someone shows you some level of kindness that for most people is courtesy, i.e. doesn’t mean anything and you go and fall for them.’ 

His mind sure knew how to make him sound like an idiot. But to be honest, it didn’t require that much effort to make him sound like one anyway. And it was right, someone is nice to him once and that’s all it takes. But what Zelda...er, The Princess did went beyond basic courtesy, right? She didn’t need to sign with him, goddesses she didn’t even need to speak with him at all, but she did, that was all it took for his imagination to take off.

‘Listen to yourself! She’s smart, so of course she knows how to sign! The whole nobility could sign for all you know! I thought we would never do this again, you remember what it was like with Malon. The hopeless look in her eye when she told you about her betrothal, that was what you were supposed to remember, how it ended, not how it started!’ 

He was glad that he was mute in that moment, which actually happened more than one would think. If he could talk, then he would have absolutely been talking to himself and anyone who had happened by would have thought him either simple or insane. Which, in the case of the latter, wasn’t too far off from the truth. He sighed, nocking another arrow, deciding that this poor dummy would be his outlet for his growing frustrations for tonight. 

Goddesses above, he was hopeless. 

“I never was one to see my father as terrifying, but the look on your face made it seem like you saw a Lynel charging at you.”

The arrow he let loose went a good yard or two left of the dummy, thank the goddesses that no one was in the yard aside from him. Well, him and the person that was the cause of his unrest. He dropped his bow, and turned to face her. “I’m sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt your...practice..I just saw you r-run out of the mess...and thought...I..I don’t know..”

“ _ You didn’t interrupt at all. Only thing hurt is my pride. _ ” He signed hoping that the smile on his face would calm her concerns, as much as he found her babbling adorable. 

“Oh well...good! Well, no good! I didn’t mean...that your pride getting hurt is good I jus-”

With a wave of his hands, her rambling was stopped in its tracks. Even though Link had only met the Princess this afternoon, he had a sneaking suspicion that if he didn’t stop her, she would keep babbling until the sun came up. Even with the little natural light from the stars and moon, he could see a clear blush on her face as she bit her lip in embarrassment, but for Link her biting her lips only made him want to run away screaming. 

Faroe, why did she have to do that? 

He needed to say or do something, scanning the courtyard he spotted a fire that someone forgot to put out before heading into the mess for dinner. He was meant to report an offense like that to Aru, but right now he couldn’t have cared less about protocol. He nodded towards the fire, “ _ Want to sit down by the fire? _ ”

‘Why would you ask her that? You’re supposed to get as far away from her as possible!’ His mind was screaming at him, he knew it was right, but he didn’t really care. His heart had been broken once before and if talking with the Princess again meant it would be broken a second time, he’d take that deal. 

“Oh..um, yes! But, weren’t you practicing with your bow? I don’t want to impose.” She said, still flustered from her rambling.

“ _ You’re not imposing if I’m offering. _ ” He said with a genuine smile as he started towards the campfire, with her following alongside him.

Walking alongside her, he realized that he was just an inch or two taller than her. Not that it really mattered to him, she could have been a foot or two taller and she would still be beautiful, it was just something he noticed since the last person he saw who was shorter than him happened to be a child. He tried not to let it bother him, mainly because there was nothing he could do about it, but Goddesses did he never hear the end of it. Link had liked to imagine that just doing his job and doing it well would have been enough to make the teasing go away, but most Rangers have too much free time and are bored easily. Teasing apparently made them less bored, no matter how well he performed while out on patrol.

Thankfully the campfire had four logs surrounding it in a square, the last thing he wanted to do was to ask the Princess to sit on the ground. He was already in hot water with the King for talking to her at dinner, he imagined that seeing the Princess on the ground wouldn’t help him get in the King’s good graces. She walked by him to sit down on one of the logs and he did the same, sitting at the one across from her. 

“Thank you for your hospitality. I know we arrived on relatively short notice, my father and I are very grateful to have a roof over our heads tonight.” The Princess finally said, looking at him from across the fire. Goddesses, if he thought her eyes were gorgeous before, they were only more so in the fire light. 

“ _ I think Aru is the one you should really be thanking, but I’ll take it. I was just surprised that you and your father would venture through Faron in the first place. _ ” 

“We didn’t plan on it, we took the Sea Road to get to Labrynna originally. However, the Sea Road follows the coast and that takes an extra two or three weeks to get back home, cutting through Faron is much faster.” She said, playing with a few strands of her hair.

“ _ Explains why we didn’t see you heading towards Labyrnna. The border guards give you any trouble? They’re an angry lot, usually give me shit whenever I see them…..I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say that.”  _ His hands were moving around so quickly that his signs were complete nonsense. 

“It’s alright, Link. I may be a sheltered Princess, but I’ve been at a few balls where our guests get drunk. I think “shit” is pretty tame to what I’ve heard them spout at each other.” Zelda said, her hand covering her mouth as she let out a giggle. 

To say Link was relieved was putting it mildly. He rarely swore and to do so in front of the crown Princess wasn’t the best time to show off his inappropriate vocabulary. Hoping to change the subject as quickly as possible, he perked up after a few seconds of silence. “ _ So, what is it like...living in a castle, I mean. Aru has told me stories of it from when he was in your father’s guard.” _

“Well..it certainly is interesting to say the least. I spend most of my time in my room reading and researching, so you’d have to ask someone else in my family what the rest of castle life is like.” Link certainly wasn’t expecting that, sure she was socially awkward, but he did not expect her to be shut in her room. Although instead of asking her about that, he noticed how her eyes lit up at her mentions of her academic pursuits, even though she tried to hide it. 

“ _ Well, what have you been researching? If you don’t mind me asking _ .” 

She looked like a young girl opening presents on Nayru’s Day, with her eyes practically bulging out of her head and her mouth hanging open. She quickly regained her composure, her face went from surprise to pure joy and excitement. “Oh! Well, I haven’t been able to do much while at Labrynna, the Prince there thought it best that I take a break from my studies and enjoy the “beauty of Labyrnna”. But before I left, I was researching how to improve on the basic Elixir recipes. How to make them last longer, more potent or both! Right before I left, I managed to get a Hasty Elixir to last for three times as long as it usually lasts….oh look there I go again.”

“ _ What did you do? _ ” 

“Pardon?”

“ _ What did you add that made that Elixer last three times as long?” _

She had an expression that was a mix of surprise and confusion. At first Link thought he said the wrong thing, but her smile returned along with a giggle that soon turned into laughter. “I’m sorry, forgive me. But….the only people who have taken a vested interest or an interest atall in my research are either old Sages or Sheikah scientists. Everyone else stares at me until I realize I’m rambling and they quickly change the subject. Usually about something I have no experience or interest in.”

“ _ Well, no offense but everyone else sounds like assholes. _ ” 

“I...wouldn’t go that far. But, I appreciate the sentiment. I guess they just see me as a princess and that is all, not me as a person who has her own hopes and dreams. The nobility is hard enough, but other Royalty is much worse. Especially Princes. I don’t any of the ones who have visited me could give a detailed description of who I was, aside from the fact that I’m blonde and have green eyes.” She said looking into the fire, her joy replaced with hopelessness. 

“ _ Now, I know we’ve only known each other for the better part of an afternoon. And I have absolutely no idea how court politics work, but you want to know what I think? I think you shouldn’t stop doing what you love simply because others think less of you for it. You’re a kind person, hell, you’ve spoken more words to me than anyone else has in a few months, and if others will see you as a kind person, then they shouldn’t care if you continue your research. And if the do care, then fuck them.”  _ Link was shocked, he can’t remember the last time he signed something that long. 

He felt like he was walking on eggshells whenever he spoke to her. Not because she was someone who was quick to anger or offence, but mainly because he didn’t want to overstep his bounds and ruin the closest thing he has had to a friendship in months. So he waited for her response with baited breath, waiting to see any sign of her anger or disgust towards him, but it never came. “T..thank you, Link. Really, I can’t really talk to anyone about this….my father tries his hardest to let me do what I want, but he has to put the needs of the Kingdom above me, which I completely understand. And those few friends I do have back at the castle are just as socially inept as me, so getting a pep talk from them is almost impossible. So thank you.”

That wasn’t what he had expected. He expected her to yell at him, saying how she’s a princess and should start acting like one, starting right there and stop talking to a commoner such as himself. But, he was ecstatic that she was grateful, if he was honest with himself he was never really good at comforting others. He must have been on the other side, the one being comforted enough for him to find the whole concept patronizing. “ _ Anytime, your highness. _ ”

“Zelda...call me Zelda.”

His heart either stopped or started beating twice as fast, he really couldn’t tell. Link wanted to tell her no, that this was the exact opposite of what he should be doing. She would be gone tomorrow and he would never see her again, she would go off and marry some Prince who was worthy of her, and he would stay here with two broken hearts. But, that was Future Link’s problem. “ _ Ok, Zelda. But you never answered my question. _ ”

“And what question was that?”

“ _ How did you manage to get the Elixir to last three times as long? _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's chapter five! Remember any and all criticism welcome! Your comments are really a joy to read and really helping me out!


	6. Zelda III

Zelda had no idea how they ended up sitting next to each other. Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly true.

After their heart to heart, or rather Zelda telling Link about all her problems without any complaint from the man in question, they settled into a pleasant back and forth about whatever crossed their minds. Link seemed to be just as much as a scatterbrain as she was, bouncing from topic to topic, although he tried his best to keep it in check. For the first time in a long while, she was having a pleasant conversation without having to talk about suitors, a line of succession or anything even related to it. She didn’t really care what they talked about, so long as they talked about something. 

But even with the fire, she still felt a chill in the autumn air, resulting in a visible shiver that Link did not miss. “ _ Cold?” _

She shook her head, trying to save at least some of her remaining dignity. Rambling to a soldier about her problems that would seem trivial in comparison to what he experiences everyday made her feel silly and childish, no matter how supportive he had been. “I’ll be alright, please you were saying something about one of the villages not too far from here?”

All he did was raise an eyebrow at her from across the fire, clearly not believing her dismissal. Without warning, he stood up as he was taking his cloak off his shoulders, leaving only his tunic to keep him warm and made his way across the fire until he was standing right in front of her, his cloak held out to her. “Link, what about you?”

Being unable to respond with his hands holding the cloak, he didn’t take her “no” for an answer and wrapped it around her shoulders. Any resistance Zelda had quickly disappeared, it wasn’t a heavy cloak made of furs or pelts, but the woolen fabric was enough to keep her warm from the chilly autumn breeze. “ _ Don’t worry about me, Princess. I’ve been living in these woods my whole life. I’m used to the cold. _ ”

“Zelda, remember.” She shot back, pulling the cloak closer. It smelt like pinecones and what she could only describe as Goron Spice, oddly enough she felt like it suited him. She had heard about his long patrols that would last for weeks and his ridiculous appetite so the smell fit him perfectly. 

“ _ Right, Zelda. May take a bit for me to get used to it. _ ” He said as he sat down next to her. 

They just sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, something that was new to the Princess. For her, silence usually meant that she was all alone in her room with nothing but her books and various research journals to keep her company or she was meeting with someone, a Prince or Duke, and said something embarrassing or unbecoming of a woman of her standing. This, however, was nice. For the first time in as long as she could remember, speaking with someone didn’t feel awkward or forced, it felt natural. And even when they didn’t speak, the quiet moments followed the same pattern as their conversations, natural. 

And judging by the small smile on her friend’s face, he felt the same as her. She may have been assuming too much from him, but she already considered him a friend, something that she hadn’t since she was a little girl. She knew it was a terrible idea to get this close to him this quickly, after tomorrow morning they would most likely never see or speak to each other again, outside of letters. But, she threw her better judgment to the wayside, she needed this, even if it was for one night. 

She looked away from the fire and snuck a glance at him, he was staring straight ahead at the fire, clearly deep in thought or staring off into space, it was hard to tell. Her gaze changed from his face to his neck, where thanks to the fire she could get a very good look at the scar that she had spotted earlier. It was a darker shade of pink than other scars she had seen on her brothers after they cut themselves while sparring, and this one went across his entire neck. 

A slight turn of his head towards her and a small huff made her realize that she got caught staring. “ _ You know I can see you right? _ ”

Well, any confidence she had a few minutes ago was gone in an instant. She couldn’t tell him either reason for staring, the first one was embarrassing and the second one was a complete breach of his privacy. “I...Well we weren’t...oh, nevermind.”

“ _ It’s alright. I doubt many people back where you’re from have something like this around their neck. _ ” 

All of her embarrassment quickly shifted into something much worse, guilt. She ruined it, all of it gone just because of her curiosity. “Link….I...I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

He raised his hand and she shut her mouth. Here it comes, he was going to tell her how he thought she was different, how she made him remember the horrible event that had given him that scar in the first place, how she was no friend of his. “ _ There’s nothing to be sorry about, Zelda. Goddesses, if I saw someone with this I’d stare. I’m not mad at you. _ ”

She could have kissed him right then and there, her relief was quickly overshadowed by her growing concern for him. She had to stop herself from asking how he got the scar, her curiosity had gotten her in trouble before. “Oh thank the Three….still, it was rude of me to stare. I’m sorry.”

“ _ It’s alright, Zelda. Everyone I’ve met has either asked about it or looked at it when they thought I wasn't looking. Just something I have to live with. _ ” 

She didn’t know what to say, not that it was anything new that she didn’t. Most of the time she was glad that she didn’t know what to say, it made most conversations end fairly quickly which meant she could leave and be alone again. But this time was different, this time she actually cared about the other person talking to her and here she was, gawking like a simpleton unable to do so much as utter a syllable, let alone offer him words of encouragement. She didn’t know that much about him, but she had a sneaking suspicion that any comforting words he got, were quickly cast aside and forgotten about. 

Wait, that was it! She didn’t know much about him, but it was time to change that.

“You said you grew up in these woods, if I remember correctly. Where did you grow up?” 

She didn’t realize that she had spaced out for a few minutes, so her sudden and out of the blue question took him off guard. “ _ Hateno. Small farming village just on the border of Faron and Necluda. _ ”

“Hateno….oh! We passed through it on our way to Labrynna, a beautiful little place. Although it borders the frontier, it doesn’t really reside within the woods itself. So did you lie to me when you said that you grew up in these woods?” She asked with a smile on her face, praying that he would give her one back. 

He did, a small one, but genuine nonetheless. “ _ I may have exaggerated a bit, but it got that cloak on you didn’t it? _ ”

“I wouldn’t say so, you threw it on me before I could say anything!” She exclaimed followed by a small giggle. “Tell me about it.”

“ _ About what? _ ”

“Hateno.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, clearly confused as to why she was asking him these kinds of questions. “I would like to know more about what life is like for the common man. Almost every book written about the subject was written by a rich man, so not exactly the most reputable source.”

“ _ There’s not much to tell, I’m afraid. _ ”

She threw caution into the wind and put her hand on his knee. “Please, Link. You listened to me drone on and on about how I grew up, let me return the favor. I would like to know more about you….i-if you don't mind, of course.”

His shoulders sagged, his resistance appeared to crumble the second she put her hand on his knee. “ _ It was...boring. If I’m being honest with you, I’d wake up, get washed, break my fast and head out to the barn to tend to the animals for most of the day. _ ”

“That’s your daily routine, I meant what the village was like. The people, shops, your family and all of that.” 

He let out an amused huff before continuing. “ _ I cannot deny a direct command from my Princess. The people were….kind, atleast to each other, not so much to travellers or outsiders. Do you get any glares or strange looks from anyone while passing through? _ ”

“A few, but whenever we travelled through a town or village we tend to get some glares. I try not to take it personally. I would imagine tha-'' She was interrupted by a yawn, not from Link but from herself. “Excuse me, I would imagine that having as large of an entourage as we usually have isn’t the most convenient for someone just trying to get to the village merchant.”

“ _ Tired? I can take you to your room if you want. _ ” He signed, never taking his eyes away from hers. 

“Oh no, I’m fine. Just a long day of travelling and the like. Please keep going.” She said with a wave of her hand. She was lying of course. She didn’t want this whole experience with Link to end, and she certainly wasn't going to let her drowsiness end it before she wanted it to. 

While he clearly didn’t believe her for a second, he did as she said. He told her about how tight knit everyone in town was, with there being maybe less than twenty families there it made it relatively easy. While life in a small village was certainly hard, especially during the winter it most certainly wasn’t lonely according to him, with all those families there were even more children his age that he said would become some of his best friends. Names like Ilia, Pipit and Saria were certainly the main stays in all of his stories, tales of young Link stealing Ilia’s precious horse from her barn only to have her not let him ride her again for a few months. 

The more she listened, the more she felt...jealous? No that wouldn’t be the right word, regretful was more appropriate. Sure, she had friends when she was younger, but when she started to feel overwhelmed at all the social interaction, she shut herself out from everyone. Her friends moved on, quickly forgetting all about the quiet, stuttering Princess and made new friends in court. If she was asked a few months ago if she would want to be able to hold a conversation with another person, she probably would have said no. She never really saw what all of the fuss was about when it came to talking with others, maybe she had just been burned too many times for her to really care. 

But after just a few hours with Link, she took it all back. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was comfortable around someone who wasn’t in her family and she was able to talk to him without turning into a stuttering mess who could barely say her own name. 

“ _ So we hid his Cuccos all over town, and convinced him that someone else had done it and he should pay us for finding them. _ ”

“Oh you were a devious child! I can’t believe someone like you would resort to extortion at that young of an age!”

“ _ I was twelve, give me a break! _ ”

She couldn’t help but giggle at his plea, it was then that she noticed she was resting her head on something warm. It was Link’s shoulder! She must have done that while she was stuck in her own head! Her first instinct was to jump up and get as far away from him as possible, she could almost hear her mother’s voice in her head about how this isn’t proper. But she didn’t move, she was tired from a long day of travelling so who could blame her for leaning up against someone else for just a moment. What shocked her most was that Link didn’t seem to mind, it was almost like he didn’t even notice the weight on his right shoulder. 

“Link?”

“ _ Yes, Zelda? _ ”

“Thank you for spending time with me, I’m afraid to admit that this is the most fun I have had in years.” She said, settling her head more comfortably so that her pointed ear wasn’t getting crushed against his shoulder. 

“ _ Same here. _ ”

A few more minutes passed in complete silence, save for the muffled voices coming from the mess. It was so comforting that Zelda found herself starting to doze off. Just as she was about to completely fall asleep, she could hear the all to familiar sound of a horse galloping towards the Outpost. She thought nothing of it at first, thinking it to be just a traveller passing through. But she was quickly proven wrong by the horse getting closer, followed by a man yelling.

“Link! Link!”

Before she could comprehend what was happening, her eyes shot open and felt Link jump up and run towards the quickly approaching rider, who Zelda could quickly identify as another Ranger. He made it through the open gate and rode right up to Link, who was on his feet ready to meet with the man. When he finally reached them, Zelda couldn’t help but gasp. 

He had an arrow lodged into his shoulder! 

She was sure Link had noticed it before she did, seeing as how he was helping the poor man off his horse the instant he got through the gates. She ran over to help but Link turned around and raised his hand to her. “ _ Zelda, go back to the mess and get Aru. _ ” 

She stood there in shock for a few moments before he repeated himself. “ _ Please. _ ”

She didn’t need any more encouragement. She turned on her heels and ran towards the mess and away from Link. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! Just as a heads up, starting after next chapter I might have to do updates every other monday since my classes start back up again but hopefully not. Comments and critiques are most appreciated!


	7. Link IV

It all happened so fast. 

One moment he was sitting by the fire, with the Crown Princess’s head resting on his shoulder, the next he was helping a man with an arrow in his shoulder off of his horse. The injured man, Koyin if he remembered correctly, was very lucky to be alive, the arrow was embedded in his left shoulder only a few inches above his heart. Sure, he would probably live with pain for a few months but it was certainly better than being dead. 

Link helped the man sit down on the same log that just a few minutes ago was where he sat with the Princess, only now instead of having two lost and anxious teenagers on top of it, an injured middle aged man took their place. Just as he got him settled, Link heard the laughs and chanting coming from inside the mess stop and were quickly replaced by the shuffling of chairs and one man barking orders at the rest. Soon enough, the doors burst open and a mix of Royal Guardsmen and Rangers came pouring out of the mess with Aru at the head of the crowd. 

“Koyin, what happened?” The Ranger Captain asked when he reached the fire.

An older looking man, Satruo, the Outpost’s doctor, passed by Aru and tended to the man's wound. “Well….ah! We were patrolling the local area as you said...it was all quiet for the most part….me and the boys set up camp for the night when….”

“When what? Spit it out! Was it Bandits? Bokoblins?”

“Commander, can you please wait until after I’ve gotten the arrow out to interrogate the poor man?” Saturo asked, after he took full stock of the man’s wound. 

“Not with the King and Princess here, just tell me, who was it, how many were there and how far away.” Aru demanded.

“There were a lot…..I can tell you that much, didn’t really get a good estimate but if they attacked us here, we wouldn’t last long…..as for how far...I’d say...ah! About an hour ride…” Koyin let out another grunt from the pain.

Saturo was clearly done waiting for Aru’s questioning to be finished. He gave the commander a glare and got the injured man to his feet and brought him towards the medical tent of the opposite side of the yard. Aru, who was now in full commander mode, told the Rangers behind him to man the walls and close the gates, as Link went to go follow along with his comrades, Aru grabbed his arm and shook his head. “You come with me.”

\-----------------------------------------

To say Link was frustrated would have been putting it mildly.

He was a Ranger, and Rangers were by design expendable. He should be out there on the walls preparing for battle, if there would even be one, not be stuck inside the Outpost’s command room. He didn’t even know why Aru wanted him here, if he wanted Ranger representation, Gilu, Aru’s second in command, was here, so why was he needed at all?

Just as he thought that, the King and a few Royal guards came into the hall. “What’s the situation, Aru? Bandits?” 

Aru, who was looking at the map on the table in front of him, didn’t even look up to acknowledge the King’s arrival. The only other item that was on the table aside from the map was a single arrow. “I’m afraid not, Your Grace. It is something much worse.”

“Well, you’ve never been one to shy away from ugly truths, Aru. What is it?” The King asked as he and his guards reached the table. 

The Commander looked up from the table and slid the arrow across the table so that it was right in front of the King. “This arrow was just removed from one of my men’s shoulders. Anything you recognize about it?”

“Bronze arrow tip. Gerudo.” The monarch replied grimly. Quickly slamming his fist against the table, making a few of the men in the room jump from the usually even tempered King. “Dammit! I should have known going through Faron would be too risky, we’re less than half a day's ride from the border. I just never suspected they would try-”

“With respect, Your Grace, none of that matters now. What matters now is getting you and the Princess out of here as quickly as possible. Koyin reported that there were more than we would be able to hold off if they chose to attack. And even if they do not, and this is just some bandit group that ran into one of my patrols, I won’t take that chance.” 

The King put the arrow back down and gave his old friend a nod. He turned to the few guards with him, “Go get Zelda, tell her to only bring her essentials and only what her horse can carry.”

The three guards gave the King a bow and left the room without another word, only leaving Link, Aru, the King and Gilu left in the room. Although Link’s presence wasn’t even acknowledged by anyone until the guards left, when the King looked right at him and motioned for him to join them at the table. When he didn’t immediately do so, Aru finally spoke. “I’m sure you’re curious why you’re here, Link.”

That certainly piqued his curiosity enough to get him to finally walk to the table. The map was of Hyrule as a whole, with the Faron Frontier being the most southweestern point on the map. “Link, you’re the best Ranger I have. Your knowledge of these woods, it’s dangers, people and geography are second to none, which is why I asked you here.”

“ _ What do you want me to do, Aru _ ?”

“The King and Princess will be escorted by less than twenty Royal Guardsmen. And while they will be protected from any physical threats, none of them have ever navigated these woods before. I want you to get them out of these woods safely.”

Did he….did he wholeheartedly expect him to just leave all of his comrades behind? Sure, other than Aru, he wasn’t friends with any of them, he would even go so far as to say that he didn’t even particularly like many of them, but that didn’t mean he had any right to abandon them. Link knew what Aru said was true and that without him, the King and Zelda wouldn't last a day out there. But that was rational, and if there was one thing was, it was emotional. And he felt as if he would be abandoning his peers. Leaving them to die, because if they were attacked and it was the Gerudo, they would either be dead or had wished they were. But most of all it meant leaving Aru, the one constant in his life since….the incident. The one person who had stood by him and actually helped him instead of pitying him. 

So he wasn’t happy with this arrangement at all. But there was no chance he would question Aru’s orders, especially in front of Gilu and more importantly the King. “ _ I understand. _ ”

Aru was clearly not convinced, but accepted his answer for the time being. “Good. Gilu, go and help the King with whatever he needs. I just need a few moments with Link to plan out the best route out of the frontier.”

The King nodded his head and started to walk towards the door, a dutiful Gilu followed closely behind. Soon enough, with the slam of the chamber door, the two rangers were left alone. The last time Link and Aru shared a conversation, they were talking about Link leaving the Rangers and moving on with his life, not that he didn’t sometimes imagine that scenario, but he did not intend for it to be like this, him running away with his tail between his legs while Aru and his comrades were slaughtered. And now that the King was gone, he made sure to let his grievance known. “ _ You can’t expect me to just abandon-” _

“You’re not abandoning anybody, Link.” Aru said over Link’s rapid hand motions. 

“ _ -you all to die here. You know for a fact that anyone can lead them out of the frontier. _ ”

“But, I don’t trust anyone else. I know that as soon as I get someone else to do this, they’ll abandon the King and Princess the first chance they can get!” Aru took a deep breath and motioned for Link to join him at the table. “I know what I am asking of you isn’t fair, but we need to get the King and Princess out of here as soon as possible, preferably before whatever attacked our patrols hits us.”

“ _ If we even get attacked. _ ” Link shot back as he stood next to Aru.

“I never thought I would live to see the day to see sass from you, Link. And even if nothing comes of this, I’d prefer the Royals be out of these woods as quickly as possible. Now, your fastest way back to civilization should be to take the Farosh Road. It should take about a two weeks to reach Hate-”

Aru was interrupted by the sound of a horn, and not the one every Ranger had to signal their return to the outpost. No, this horn was much deeper, meant to be heard from miles away, to strike fear, to intimidate. Link never heard anything like it, but based on the lack of color on Aru’s face, he had and whatever it symbolized was not good. It took Aru a few moments to speak, and when he did, not even a deaf person could miss the fear in his voice “Link, go get the Princess and the King. Tell them to gather their best guards and meet me by the east gate.”

Link had seen terrible things in his short life, but Aru had seen far, far worse. And too see his father figure, someone who he saw time and time again lift him from whatever dark pit he got himself into, this frightened, he knew not to question him. 

\-------------------------------

Chaos was the only word Link could use that accurately described what he saw in the courtyard. After Aru sent him to go get the visiting royals, he could hear some commotion in the yard, at the time he thought it was the men reacting to the very audible horn that was quickly approaching them. But, as soon as he exited the main hall, he knew it was much more than a few scared Rangers. 

“Fire! Get to the well!” Someone screamed from across the yard. 

Sure enough, the stables on the north side of the outpost were up in flames, along with most, if not all of the horses that the King and Princess had brought with them. A few tried to get the doors to the burning building open, but based off of their struggling, it was barred from the inside. 

In the middle of all the chaos was King Rhoam directing both his own guard and Rangers to combat the fire, even taking a bucket of water into his own hands to help with the relief. Link went to go grab one for himself when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, belonging to the King himself. “Link, we can handle the fire. Go get Zelda.”

He wanted to argue, but he knew the King wasn’t Aru. He didn’t want to see what the monarch would do if he refused a direct order, especially one that came to his daughter. So he dropped the bucket and ran to Zelda’s guest house, which thankfully was on the opposite side of the courtyard from the raging fire. Since there was no guard stationed at her door, Link assumed they abandoned their post to help with the fire. Once he stood in front of her door, he knocked just once as the door swung open, with a very confused and frightened Zelda standing mere inches from him.

“Link? What’s...Oh Goddesses!”

She looked past him and saw the burning stables, with her father right next to it with a bucket of water in his hand. Zelda instinctively tried to get past Link and run to her father, but Link grabbed her arm preventing her from getting by him. “Link, please! He needs help!”

“ _ Your father tasked me with getting you, not letting you run to danger. _ ” He left no room for argument, pulling her towards the main hall and a safe distance from the burning stables, or as safe a distance as he could get from a fire that could easily spread to other structures. However, the longer the fire had gone on, the more men there were to fight it, even Aru when notified of the crisis lended a hand, all while Link had to hold back Zelda from doing the same. 

When the King spotted his daughter, he handed his bucket off to one of his guards and with Aru headed towards the equally frustrated pair. The two older men shared one look and Link knew that he wasn’t going to like what they had to say. “Link, Princess. I’m afraid with this set back, me and the King had agreed on a new course of action.”

Zelda spoke for the both of them when she asked, “W..what new course of action?”

“Link will get you back to Hyrule Castle, alone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens! And if you remember from my last post, I may have to either post every other monday or just post whenever I am able to. Senior year of college is already rocking my shit, don't be a STEM major! Again, any critiques no mater how harsh are more than welcome!


	8. Zelda IV

“What?”

“ _ What? _ ”

Had this been any other situation, she knew her father would have laughed at her for her shocked expression and tone of voice. But unfortunately for both of them, this was no ordinary situation. Of course, no one told her much, aside that the outpost was in danger from some yet to be determined foe and how both her and her father needed to leave as soon as possible. And based off of the ever approaching war horn, this was not just some band of bokoblins or lizalfos.

“Link will escort you back to Hyrule Castle to the best of his abilities. And from what Aru has told me, he is the best there is at navigating these woods.” Her father replied in a very matter of fact way. How could her father say it like that? Did he even know what this plan would mean for him? That he would be….no, she couldn’t think like that. Her father was a very smart man, surely he had a plan for his own escape, he wouldn’t just send them off and leave himself to a terrible fate.

“What..what about you?” She asked, trying to keep her voice steady. 

“I’ll take a separate route with Aru’s second in command, Gilu.”

“So you’re not staying here? Then why not just have us both go together! Why split us apart!” She didn’t really care if she was losing her temper at this point. All those years of proper etiquette forgotten. 

“We’d be much more likely to be caught, Zelda. I’m old, and being old means I’m much slower than you or Link. I’d only slow you two down, you will be safer with him.” 

She did not like the way he said that last sentence at all, he sounded like he gave up. He was the one who always protected her, be it from rumors, gossip, suitors or even members of their own family. He should be the one protecting her now! She didn’t even notice the searing pain in her palms from squeezing her fists so hard that her nails were digging into her soft skin. But her father did, closing the distance between the two as he wrapped his daughter into a hug, tucking her head under his chin. “Me and Gilu will be right behind you. I just have to oversee some defenses then we’ll be off.”

She tried her hardest to stop the tears that eventually fell down her cheeks. “But...but, Papa…”

“Shhh, it will all be alright in the end. This isn’t goodbye, little bird.”

The dam finally broke at his pet name for her, she let out a whimper as her knees felt weak. He only called her that when she was at her lowest point, this being her lowest. Goddesses, the last time he called her that was when she lost a journal that had over two months worth of her research on it and she had spent over a day crying about it. She would rather set all of her journals to the torch than have had to be separated from the only person who saw her for who she was. “I just….don’t want to leave you. I...I’m not strong enough to….”

He pulled away, holding her face in his hands, only then did she realize he was holding back tears. “You can do it, I know you can. You’re stronger than you know.”

She didn’t believe him, even though sometimes he knew her better than she knew herself, there was no way that he was being truthful. He was just telling her what she wanted to hear, because how could the smartest person she knew believe she had what it took to get through this?

She felt his grip lessen until he had to pull away, she let out a whimper and tried to follow his hands, “Zelda please. You have to go now. If you stay any longer, you’ll have less and less of a chance to get out of here safely.”

She was about to protest yet again, then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She whipped her head around and saw it was Link, where as before his blue eyes were as calm and comforting as the sky on a clear day, now they were as icy as Snowpeak. It was almost like she was looking at a completely different person than the man who told her dumb stories about what he did as a boy, he looked...afraid? No, that can’t be it, she could only guess the horrors he had seen in his short life, so for him to be just as scared as she was less comforting and more terrifying. 

“Go with him, Zelda.” She felt her father’s grasp weaken and Link’s get stronger. Zelda was so lost in thought that she didn’t even realize that Link was pulling her further and further away from her father. She didn’t even register her father telling Link to “look after her”. She didn’t notice all of her guards bowing to her as she left, some guards she had known all of her life and she would never see them again. And as much as she wanted to believe her father’s assuring words, she had a terrible feeling that she would never see him again. 

It wasn’t until she heard the gates closing behind them did Link take his hand off her shoulder and head towards the tree line. He looked back at her as if he expected to see her pounding against the gates to let her back in. Instead he saw a heartbroken teenage girl who just saw her world fall apart in front of her. She knew that she should have at least tried to prevent herself from losing herself in front of him, but she didn’t care anymore and just let the tears fall and the sobs lose. Link didn’t seem to mind at all. 

With the horn only getting closer, it and her own sobs were all that she could hear as she followed Link into the woods.

\----------------------------------------

Zelda was never one to admit that her life as Princess made her feel like something was beneath her, but walking through a forest in the middle of the night for hours without stopping was the exception. Although, if the circumstances were different, she would have been giddy with excitement. A journal in hand, writing as much as she was able about the various plants, bugs and animals that they would have come across. 

But the circumstances were not different. The past few hours had not dulled the sharp pain she felt whenever her thoughts turned to the look on her father’s face as she was pulled away by Link. She should have fought him off, commanded the soldier to let her go so that she could stay at her father’s side, no matter if he wanted her there or not. There so many things she should have done, she should have stayed at dinner with him, instead of holding up in her guest room she should have joined him. She should have spent more time with him before...before the end. 

No, she shouldn’t think that way. He has always been a man of his word, and he said he would be travelling with a Ranger just like her. She would see him again….she had to.

When the pair had happened upon a clearing, Zelda needed a break. “Link, can we...stop for just a few minutes?”

He locked eyes with her for the first time since they fled from the outpost, she saw him sneak in a glance here or there just to see if she was still following him and not having ran back to the outpost. With him leading the way and her following behind, he had not signed a word to her in the past few hours. Something she was grateful for, she didn’t want to hear any words of encouragement or sympathy. While her tears had stopped an hour ago, she knew if he tried to comfort her in any way, she would not be able to keep up her façade any longer. “Just a few moments, please. My feet feel like they are about to fall off.”

He looked as if he was going to refuse, but he let out a sigh and nodded. She found a rock to sit on as she hiked up her dress to take her shoes off, thankfully she put flats on this morning and not the heels she had packed. With little effort, she took them off and massaged her feet, hoping that she could get some relief before they continued on for Goddess knows how long. 

They had spent hours trudging through the thick woods, so the clearing made her able to see more than what was just a foot in front, which she greatly appreciated. She had read about how thick the forest could get, so much so that the light from a full moon wouldn’t have been able to get through the treetops. But she had written it off as just hyperbolic nonsense from writers who had never visited the frontier to begin with, Goddesses how wrong she was. 

The darkness was almost suffocating, she had no idea how Link was able to tell where they were going. Whenever she blinked, she could feel her eyelids slam close but the world for the most part stayed the exact same, only being able to see Link’s silhouette made her able to tell the difference. She had to squint out here in the clearing, with her eyes adapted to the near pitch black that they had been travelling in for hours, and would continue to travel in when her break ended. Right, she had a reason for stopping, her feet were killing her. 

She was too focused on relieving her foot pain that she didn’t notice Link walk up to her. She jumped when his canteen blocked her view of her feet, but quickly took it from him and took a sip. “Thank you, Link.”

When she tried to offer it back to him, he shook his head. “ _ Keep it, you need it more than I do. _ ” He looked around after a twig snapped a few feet from them, just a harmless squirrel but he was clearly on edge. 

Seeing him wound up so tight made her even more so, what could have been chasing them that made a seasoned Ranger like him so nervous. She wanted to ask him, since she prided herself a scholar and most scholars don’t shy away from a hard truth. But quite frankly, she was terrified over what the answer was, so she took another sip of water and asked a less frightening question. 

“How are you able to see so well, or at all?” 

From where he was standing, or more accurately scanning the tree line for threats, he gave a small shrug. “ _ Just grown accustomed to the dark after all these years. _ ”

Now that didn’t exactly give her an opening to continue the conversation, just a short and to the point reply. No sarcastic remark or terrible joke that their fireside chat was riddled with, nothing about this Link, the soldier and Ranger aside from his handsome face had anything in common with the sarcastic and flustered Link she had met back at the outpost. 

It wasn’t like she wanted to discuss what had just happened a few hours ago, she just needed something, anything to take her mind off of what had just happened. But, clearly Link was in no mood for conversation so she went back to massaging her sore feet. 

She knew that she shouldn’t be taking so long to get her bearings, and judging Link not once looking at her, instead choosing to scan all around them, he thought the same. She wanted to be mad at him, who was he to expect her to travel miles in the middle of the night in shoes that were better made for a ballroom than the forest floor, all while she just lost her father. But she knew he had no control over any of that, so instead she directed all of her anger on getting the last knot out of her foot. She was too focused to even notice another twig snapping behind them. 

But Link most certainly did. 

And while she didn’t even notice the first twig that was snapped, she did hear the second one, then the third. By the time the two heard the fourth twig being snapped, Link was at her side with his sword drawn. While Zelda still thought it could have just been some animal, Link was taking no chances and stood his ground. 

She soon realized that while the clearing gave her the ability to see, it prevented both of them from seeing back into the darkness. Not only that but it made them stick out, when they first saw the clearing she could have seen it from hundreds of feet away. So whoever or whatever was moving around in the darkness, most certainly would have seen them. 

Then all of a sudden, the sound stopped. No more rustling of leaves or snapped twigs, just silence. 

Zelda was about to sigh in relief, when the wisp of an arrow being let loose broke the silence. Link, who was already searching for any sound aside from Zelda’s panicked breaths, took her by the shoulders and pushed her out of the way, just as the arrow shot passed them where it was stuck in a tree. 

“ _ Hide. _ ” Was the only word he was able to sign before another arrow shot out of the darkness, missing yet again. 

She wasted no time in getting behind the nearest tree, only to find out that Link had stayed where he was, waiting for another arrow to be let loose, only none came and the sound of an arrow being knocked was replaced by heavy footsteps and a sword being taken from its sheath. 

From the darkness, a tall woman with long, red hair emerged with her sword held high above her head. She wasted no time in bringing her scimitar down onto Link, who used his own sword to block her attack. He didn’t even flinch! The woman had to have been no less than two feet taller than him! 

While Zelda was gawking at his strength, Link instead acted, using his own weight to push the woman off his sword, making her jump out of the range of his attack. She expected the woman to be surprised at Link’s ability to block her attack, but instead she looked...excited? She even laughed at him!

“I’m impressed, little voe. Let’s see how skillful you really are.” Without another word, she swung again, and Link again blocked her with ease. But instead of waiting for Link to throw her off balance, she tried again and again to over power him. She was obviously not used to fighting someone with as much skill as her, likely only needing to use her power to win a sword fight. And with her still not landing a hit on him, she grew more frustrated and less methodical, leaving the ranger the opening he was looking for. When she went to swing, he jumped out of the way and landed a hit on her exposed stomach. It wasn’t too deep, but it was painful enough for the woman to get even angrier. 

Zelda had no experience or knowledge of the sword, but even she could see what he was doing. The more she tried to over power him, the more tired she would get and more importantly the more angry she would get, making her more prone to making mistakes that could cost her life. 

“Grr, this is pointless, voe! Even if you kill me, we have hundreds of our strongest warriors out looking for her! I’m just the first one to find you, and thanks to one of Lord Ganon’s agents, you have to trek the rest of the way back to Castletown on foot.” She spat out after Link blocked another flurry of attacks. “Just give her up, and I’ll promise to spare your life.. Why throw your life away for a Princess who won’t even remember who you are in a few days?”

Although she had only met Link not even a day ago, she had hoped to have made enough of an impression so that he knew that wasn’t true. And based off of him finally going on the offensive, he did. But his new found strategy was flawed, whereas before he had enough strength to hold her off until she grew tired enough for him to land a hit in, he had nowhere the amount of stamina to go on the attack, and the woman he was fighting knew this. “Struck a nerve did I?”

Link over committed to an attack leaving him defenseless, leaving him with a knee to the gut and thrown against a tree. “Link!”

The woman turned away from Link and towards Zelda, her unsettling smile all too visible. “Ah, your highness. We’ve been looking all over for you…”

She turned to run away, but without her shoe she immediately stepped in something sharp and fell to the ground. The woman apparently found that very amusing, laughing as she stood right next to the wounded Princess, even kneeling down to lift her chin up so that she could look her in the eye. “Don’t worry, when we get back to Gerudo Town we’ll get that looked at...after your  _ private _ meeting with Lord Ganon, of course.”

Zelda jerked her head away from the woman, she couldn’t see Link from where she was but she didn’t hear him moving. “Oh, don’t be like that...he’s been with plenty of women, he’ll make you feel wo-”

Whatever spiteful threat disguised as a tease was cut short as an arrow shot right through her neck, her words replaced with a disgusting gargle as she choked on her own blood. It was the most disgusting sound she had ever heard, even if the woman had just been threatening her with unspeakable horrors, to see her lying next to her with both hands trying to stop the bleeding it made Zelda want to throw up. She had seen injuries and wounds before, but nothing like this. She never saw blood pool under someone as they gasped for air, never heard the whimpers of someone who knew that no matter how hard they tried, they wouldn’t see the next day, never had to look into the eyes of someone who was dead, never blinking and never closing. Those green eyes bore into her, something that she would never forget. 

She didn’t even notice Link as he ran up to her, stepping over the woman he had just killed to get to her. She was sure that he was signing her, asking if she was alright, she wasn’t looking at him, just staring back at those dead green eyes. He must have seen the wound on her foot as he put an arm under her knees and back, lifting her up and without wasting another moment, running deeper into the woods and away from those green eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Got this out sooner than I expected I would have, only a week and a half in and it's already alot! But, hopefully it was worth the wait, I made it longer than usually so I hope that makes up for it. Oh, and I want to thank hbthingy and @freshbreezeworld on tumblr for betaing this for me, both really helped me fix some issues I had writing this. Anyway, let me know what you think, I live for your comments!


	9. Link V

As much as he hated to be trapped in a cave with one way in, he was short of alternatives at the moment. And it could have been worse, this cave had served him well over the years while he was out on patrol. He actually found it on accident when following the trail of a Bokoblin tribe that had been harassing a nearby village. He thought it was the entrance to a vast cave system that had been rumored to be where the Bokos had been living. While he was initially frustrated to have not found the monsters, he soon came to be thankful for finding it. It was a perfect spot to rest during his routine patrols of this area, so it was a perfect spot to rest after an exhausting night with a wounded Princess. 

“Are you sure we should stop, Link?”

Speaking of Zelda, she hadn’t uttered a single word since their encounter with that Gerudo a few hours ago, in fact he figured that she had fallen asleep in his arms. So to hear her quiet, wavering voice after hours of the only sound being the leaves and branches crunching beneath his boot was a shock to say the least. 

In order to answer, he needed his hands free so he placed her down gently against the wall furthest from the entrance. “ _ No, but your wound needs to be clean. _ ”

“But...what if we run into another...one of….them.” She whispered, almost as if she was asking herself that question instead of him. And she was right, there were so many unknowns to him. He had no idea if what the woman had said was true, the more optimistic side told him it was just a lie to get him to give up the Princess without a fight. But he learned long ago to never listen to optimism and instead believe in the worst case scenario, that there were hundreds of Gerudo warriors scouring the area looking for her. 

“ _ We’re hidden and off the main road, we’re safe for now. _ ” Of course he was lying, whether to her, himself or even both of them he didn’t know. 

Normally he wouldn’t have been that worried, Gerudos mainly stuck to the few roads that slithered through the forest and whenever they did trail off the beaten path, they were completely out of their element and in his. Not to mention that this particular part of Faron was so dense it was hard to see more than a few dozen meters in any direction.

However this wasn’t a normal situation. He’d never seen a Gerudo Warrior like that before, although he had heard plenty of stories and if all the others were as fierce as that one, he didn’t know if he could even get her to the nearest village. 

No, he shouldn’t think like that. He WAS going to get her out of here, he had to. 

Link got down on his knees to get a better look at her foot, the bleeding had stopped shortly after he picked her up but there were still bits of dried blood visible along the wound. It was a few inches across the arch of her foot. It was a lot better than he had expected, it wasn’t much but he was looking for any positives at that point. He fished out his flask from his belt with one hand and propped up her foot in his lap. With an eyebrow raised, he silently asked for her permission to begin, she gave a quick nod.

He was no stranger to pain, so while something as small as this cut would be manageable for him, he had a feeling that wasn’t the case for the Princess. And his theory was proven right when she let out a squeak the second water from his flask touched her cut. Link had taken care of injuries many times, whether it was him or a fellow ranger and he had heard every cry, groan or squeal. But just hearing her quick cry of pain made him stop immediately and put his free hand on her shin to give her a reassuring squeeze. 

“I’m sorry, keep going. I’ll be...fine just get it over with.”Goddesses she sounded so tired. He wished they could have just stayed by that campfire, hearing her gush over her research or a book she had just read. 

But he knew the quicker he did this, the faster she could get some rest. So again he tilted his flash and as hard as she tried to hide it, her leg muscles seizing up and her quick breaths gave her away. What was less than ten seconds must have felt much longer to her, but when he was satisfied, Link tore a piece of his tunic off and wrapped it around her foot. “ _ That’s it. Try and get some rest, it should feel better in a few hours. _ ”

“Shouldn’t we….keep...moving?”

He would have laughed at the thought, but he knew that this was hardly the time or place. “ _ You need rest. We can keep going after you get some sleep and food. _ ”

Link knew she needed rest, that was beyond dispute. But did she know that she needed to rest was the question. Based on her trying to push herself up the wall, the answer was clear. But before she could, Link’s hand was on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down. “Link...what if there really are more...out there? We can’t stay here…”

“ _ This cave is pretty well hidden. And besides even if I agreed with you, if we ran into any of them you would be on one foot. Rest, Zelda. Please. _ ” 

She let out a defeated sign and nodded her head. “Ok….you won’t….leave will you?”

Instead of answering immediately, he sat next to her. “ _ I’ll be right here. Try and get some sleep. _ ”

“You promise?”

“ _ I promise _ .”

Again she gave a nod, although she still didn’t seem convinced but was too tired to say anything else and rested her head on his right shoulder, just like the night before by the fire. Goddesses, how he wished they could go back to that moment. Did it mean anything to her? Probably not, but to him it was the first time since….Malon that he felt any connection with another person. And while he had hoped to be given the opportunity to have spent more time with her, he in no way wanted it to be like this. Hunted and wounded, huddled together in a small, dark and gloomy cave. 

Not to mention how she had lost her father, probably forever. Sure, he had told them how he was going to leave with Gilu, but Link knew right when he said it, the King was lying through his teeth. Link didn’t know Gilu that well, Goddesses he didn’t know any Ranger aside from Aru that well, but he knew that while Gilu was a Ranger in name only. He was a fifth son of some noble family from Castletown and needed to be rid of him, so the Rangers were a perfect fit. Aru only took him in as his second command because he was surprisingly a smart guy, not because of his abilities in the field. 

He knew that the King never set foot outside that outpost, neither did Aru, Gilu or even Cado. Well, maybe the King or Aru were taken as prisoners, but everyone else….it was either a sword to the gut or to the auction block back on the other side of the highlands. Still, not something he wanted to think about nor something he wanted the Princess to think about. 

“Do you think they made it out in time?”

She just kept on surprising him, she looked about ready to pass out a few minutes before. But he could tell how much was on her mind, and from experience he knew what that did to someone's ability to fall asleep. “ _ Your father? _ ”

“Yes….he’s never lied to me before...and after seeing just what one of those warriors was capable of….I don’t want to e-even...think about..”Goddesses, she was barely able finish a sentence. He had plenty of experience with panic attacks and her quick, rapid breathing, bordering on hyper ventilating and inability to finish a train of thought was a telltale sign. 

He was always one to look the ugly truth in the face and not shy away from it, but he couldn’t do that to her, not after everything she had been through over the past few hours. “ _ They made it out safely, Zelda. _ ” 

“How...do you know...they were so close when w-we left...what if they stayed too long and…”

He couldn’t take it anymore. He hated lying to her, she didn’t deserve it but if she found out that her father was either in chains or head was on a spike….she’d break. So as a silent form of comfort, he let his head fall from its place against the hard stone wall behind them and rest atop her own. “ _ They made it out of there safely. I know Gilu, he’s a good Ranger, a great one. Your father is in very good hands. _ ”

“But, what if...we don’t know if they-”

A wave of his hands cut her off immediately. “ _ Zelda, there are a lot of things we don’t know. We don’t know if what that woman said was true, we don’t know how many could be out there. But I do know Gilu and I trust him to get your father back to Castletown. And I do know that I will make sure you see him again. _ ” Each word he signed it was like twisting a knife in his stomach. He was taught that lying was one of the world's greatest sins, yet here he was lying to the Crown Princess and supposed descendent of the Mother Goddess, Hylia herself.

“But….” Link felt his head rise and fall as she took a deep breath and let it out. “Ok...if you believe it Link, then I will too…..or at least try to. I trust you.”

Why did she have to say that? Why on Goddesses green earth did she have to say the one thing that made him want to throw up last night's stew? But he was in too deep now, she had actually started to calm down, if her steady breathing was anything to go off on. If he broke and told her, he had a feeling he would have to either carry or drag her all the way through the woods, something he was not keen on doing. 

“Then what’s our plan? You never did say where we were going when we...left the outpost.” She said after her breathing returned to normal.

“ _ I do have a plan. And I’ll be happy to tell you all about it. When you get some rest. _ ”

“Link...please, I want to know. At the very least I deserve to know!” While she sounded annoyed, he could tell it had more to do with her drowsiness than actual frustration. 

“ _ Fine, I’m taking us somewhere we can get a horse. _ ”

“What? Well...that does sound logically sound. Although we’ll have to navigate there with my injured foot and that might be an issue, what about this place? Where is it? How far? Do you know someone who can get us a horse or will we have to buy one? I can give you my-”

Again, another wave of his hands silenced her. “ _ Alright, I’ll tell you. Just go to sleep afterwards alright? _ ”

“I will.” She sounded truthful, yet he still doubted she would. 

“ _ Alright. Well I’m taking us to a place where we can get a horse, a good one. I’m…..friendly with the owner and he owes me a few favors, so borrowing a horse shouldn’t be that much of a problem. And it’s not that far, by my guess we should get there by tomorrow morning if we leave before sunset. _ ” He said, leaving out a massive complication. But he hoped not mentioning it would make it disappear. 

“We could just tell him who I am, that should get us a horse, no favors needed.”

“ _ No, I think we should keep that to ourselves for the time being. And besides, Talon has never been the most tightlipped, especially after a few drinks. _ ” Link said, knowing first hand how...loose the man could be, afterall it was how he learned of Malon’s betrothal. “ _ And folks out here don’t really respect Royal authority, it was why they came here in the first place. _ ”

“Ok….if you think it’s best….again, I trust you.” 

He ignored the sting her words left and weakly nodded his head as the past half a day finally caught up to him. “ _....Good, now please get some rest. The quicker we get to Talon’s, the quicker we can get a real bed. _ ” Hopefully...the last time he was at the ranch he didn’t leave the best impression on the old man. 

He felt his head bob as the exhausted Princess nodded her head and let out a small “Mhmm”. Link prayed that she was actually sleeping this time, he didn’t know if he had the energy to fight her on that again. But it seemed she finally listened to him, her breathing finally evened out and her head seemed to go limp and rest fully on his shoulder. 

Link briefly lifted his head, making sure that his sword was in reach as he took one last look out the cave entrance before his eyelids started to close on their own accord, following the Princess’s lead and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been tweaking this for the past few days so I hope it was worth the wait! And we finally get to meet a certain red headed farm girl next chapter! So we got some fun drama cooking. Anyway, be sure to comment what you think, they make my day. And thanks again to hbthingy for betaing this for me!


	10. Zelda V

She wanted to take a break. 

Walking through the dense forest was hard enough on two feet, especially for someone as unathletic as herself. So for her to lose a foot to walk on and have it be replaced by grabbing onto Link’s arm for dear life certainly didn’t make for a pleasant stroll through the woods, not that it would have been close to one even if she still had her other foot in working order. She had hoped that at some point the forest would have opened up and allowed her to walk on solid ground instead of nearly tripping over the roots that littered the forest floor, acting like a web surrounding the enormous trees that towered above them. 

A small part of her wished that it was pitch black out and that she could travel with Link’s help in blissful ignorance of their surroundings. Sure, Link would probably have keeled over from a heart attack hours ago from the stress of not being able to see, it would certainly allow her to believe that they were all alone. Call it a coping mechanism or a childish attempt to avoid looking a terrible truth in the face, but hearing a twig snap and have the two of them snap to attention only to find out it was a harmless squirrel was almost too much for her heart to handle. 

“Link….could we just….rest for a moment.” She asked, not knowing where he found the strength to still be standing. “I know we should keep moving….I just need a break.”

She expected him to refuse, call her a perpetulent child for wanting to take a break when he had been doing most of the heavy lifting, literally. But instead he scanned their surroundings and gave her a nod. “ _ Just not too long. I want to get to the Ranch before it gets too dark. _ ”

As soon as she felt her back rest up against the tree, she immediately felt guilty. Link had basically carried her ever since their encounter with that Gerudo over twelve hours before and he did not complain at all. Not one sigh, grunt or sign to indicate that he was annoyed to have been shackled to someone as useless and easily frightened as her. Although she tried her best to hide the latter from him, whenever so much as an acorn hit the forest floor, she would let out a squeal. 

The only thing he was concerned with was getting her to safety, even if it meant carrying her for the foreseeable future. “How far do you think we are?”

“ _ I’ve taken this exact route many times before, so I’d say a few hours. But we’ll reach a road soon so walking should be easier for you.”  _ He signed, reaching for the canteen on his belt and took a swig. “ _ How are you holding up?” _

She knew that question was more directed at her mental state than her foot, but she knew if she answered him truthfully…..it wouldn’t be good for either of them. How was she holding up? Well, she had to say goodbye to her father and had no idea if he was alive or dead, despite Link’s words of comfort, she was travelling through a forest that would have eaten her alive if it wasn’t for her new friend and lastly, she saw someone die right in front of her. She could process all of this when they reached someplace that preferably had four walls and a roof above her head. She had plenty of experience keeping her emotions in check, she only needed to keep the mask up for a few more hours, hopefully. “I’m...doing fine, Link. It feels much better than it did before you cleaned it, thank you again.”

“ _ No need to thank me, Princess. You would have done the same if the roles were reversed. Hopefully we can get you a new pair of shoes from Talon. _ ” 

“I wouldn’t want to impose….besides, why would a man own a pair of shoes that would fit me?” Zelda asked as she gave him a small smile. 

“ _ He has a daughter that should be about your size. She isn’t…….doesn’t live there anymore, so there should be a few pairs that she isn’t using.”  _ Immediately after telling her that, Link turned around to scan their surroundings.

Even someone as inexperienced with social interaction as her, she saw the wrinkle on his forehead and the subtle twitch of his eyebrow and knew that was a touchy subject for him so she decided not to inquire further. “Link.”

He turned around and saw her hand extended towards him. “Could you help me up?”

\------------------------------------------------

“You alright, Link?”

It was a loaded question. Mainly because she already knew the answer, no he probably was not alright, physically and emotionally. Physically was obvious, while they had both got some much needed rest after a grueling night, it was not nearly enough to have gotten all of their energy back. And unlike her, who had spent most of their journey either in his arms or clinging to one of them for dear life, he had to carry her the whole way. But emotionally was still up in the air. He had spent the better part of the last day on edge making sure that they weren’t being followed or tracked, all the while making sure that they didn’t get lost. So needless to say, she imagined that he most likely didn’t have the time to process what the both of them had gone through. 

But ever since they had gotten on the dirt road and according to him were getting close to their destination, he had stopped checking behind them every few minutes or scanning the tree line for threats. Instead he had just been staring off into space, almost as if he was lost in thought. And her assumption seemed to be accurate when her question startled him. “ _ Me? I feel like I should be the one asking that question, I‘m not the one who had her foot cut open. _ ”

“And I’m not the one who had to carry someone through a dangerous forest for hours. I’m….worried that I’m asking too much of you...besides you seemed lost in thought.”

He stopped in his tracks, never taking his eyes off of her own. “ _ You’re not asking too much of me. And I was daydreaming a little bit. _ ”

Goddesses it was right out of a comedic play, the stoic, honorable soldier who had to escort a damsel through a dangerous forest was daydreaming instead of having his guard up. “If you don’t mind me asking, what about?”

With her holding onto his left arm, he motioned for them to keep walking with his right. “ _ A lot as you can imagine. But I guess I should tell you before we get there, in case Talon tries to poke me full of holes with his pitchfork. _ ” Now that had certainly gotten her attention, from what he had told her of this “Talon” he seemed to be like a rather kind and gentle old man. What could make Link believe such a man like that would have been capable of such a thing. “ _ The last time I was there…..let’s just say I didn’t leave on the best of terms with him. _ ”

“What...what happened?” Her curiosity quickly turned into nervousness. 

“ _ I had been on patrol and stopped by to stay the night, so he told me he had some exciting news. He told me and I didn’t take the news too well and let’s just say we had a bit too much to drink and I said some things I regret. Haven’t been back since. _ ”

Vague as his answer had been, Zelda knew not to pry and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. “If what you told me about him was true, he sounds like a forgiving man. I’m sure if you two were close, he’d have forgiven you by now.”

“ _ I hope so, if not we’re shit out of luck. _ ” He said with a huff. 

“.....could always just steal a horse if he refuses.” Zelda said under her breath. 

She feft Link start to shake next to her, at first she was worried he was injured or the exhaustion was finally catching up with him. But to her relief, he was laughing. While one part of her was ashamed for even suggesting such a violent and immoral action, the other was just happy to see him smile. “ _ Now that was something I never thought I'd hear a Princess say. _ ”

She gave him a playful nudge, mirroring his smile. “Well, it just so happens that I’m not a very good Princess.”

His hands went to form a response when the distant sound of a cow mooing stopped him. While she wasn’t familiar with the frontier, she knew that cows weren’t native to it, and the only sound of wildlife she had heard was a bird singing or squirrel scattering up a tree. So a cow could only mean one thing, they were at the Ranch.

Sure enough, as the two rounded a bend in the dirt road, there was a large closed gate with a sign hanging overhead with “Lon Lon Ranch” written in enormous bold letters across it. The winding road that they had been travelling on for the better part of the day came to an abrupt end at the gate, where the dirt and dense trees were replaced by grass, flowers and wide open fields. She was no land surveyor but if she had to give a rough guess, the ranch had to have been at least ten acres or so. Something she was sure the horses took full advantage of, based on the few she could see galloping around one of the closed off pens that had to have been at least an acre in and of itself.

It wasn’t as if the horses were the only animals about, from what she could see there were horses, cows, bulls and what appeared to be sheep all in their own acre sized pens. Being stuck in a castle for most of her life, Zelda rarely saw any animals that weren’t her cats, Nayru and Storm. The only other animals she had seen were mainly horses or a dog whenever she was able to visit Castletown. So to see so many different types of animals that she had only read about, made the scholar in her jump at the opportunity to study each and everyone of them. 

It seemed that the more she looked, the more things she saw. A few hundred paces from what appeared to be Talon’s home was a stream that looked like it was straight out of a painting. With clear, calm water that must have been home to even more aquatic creatures that made the already excited Princess even more giddy. If only she still had her journal with her, she would have already started to categorize the different animals into bovine, equestrian and the like. 

There were a fair number of structures that littered the property, she had no experience at ranch work so she was not even going to guess what served which purpose. Although the two story home that stood tall over everything else in the middle of clearing was an easy guess. With the sun just about to fall below the horizon Zelda could see a light from a candle inside the home, meaning that this Talon, who Link believed would throw the two of them off the property at sword point, was home. 

Zelda soon realized that the two still stood in front of the gate, where the two had been lost in thought for a few moments. With her inner musings about cataloging every animal in a journal and Link about….well she could only imagine. So she gave his arm a nudge with her shoulder, which made him snap his head towards her in a split second. “ _ Sorry, been awhile since I was here. Come on, hopefully the cows didn’t put Talon in a bad mood today. _ ”

The long winding path that led to the big house certainly looked a lot shorter from a distance, maybe it was them being so close to possibly having some shelter,  _ real  _ shelter for the night that made the walk feel much longer than it actually was. But after what must have been only ten minutes or so, the two had reached the front porch, then the front door where the battle hardened ranger hesitated to knock. 

She could feel his heart pounding like a ceremonial drum in his chest, which almost made the Princess laugh. Here was the same man who fought off a Gerudo Warrior in single combat, terrified at the thought of talking to an old man who  _ maybe  _ was less than happy with him. In an effort to reassure him, Zelda gave his arm a small squeez, ignoring how she could feel the muscles under the tunic or the blush that crept across her face. This was hardly the time or place. 

_ Knock Knock Knock _

For a few moments, the sound of a cow in the distance and Link’s heartbeat was all Zelda could hear. But soon enough, a pair of footsteps approached the door and Zelda could practically feel Link’s anxiety radiate off of him. When the footsteps stopped right on the other side of the door, Zelda expected it to swing open and reveal an old man, instead the two heard a muffled, feminine voice call out to them. “Who is it?!”

Link, who at that point felt as if his heart was about to explode, took in a sharp breath at the voice. He clearly knew who it was and based on his reaction Zelda had no idea if he was happy or distraught to hear her voice. “Um….Link….and a friend-oh!”

Before she could even finish her sentence, whoever was on the other side of the door swung it open and practically jumped onto her poor travelling companion, who appeared to be just as surprised as her. From her position on Link’s left, she could not see the mystery girl’s face, partially because it was under Link’s chin but the other was because her mane of bright red hair kept it well hidden. After a few moments, Link recovered from his shock and wrapped his free arm around her waist, although she could tell he was nervous to do so. 

The girl pulled away after a few seconds, looking up to give her friend an enormous smile. “Where in the hell have you been? Y’all just disappear for weeks with nothing as much as a word...well, you know what I mean!” She looked away from Link for a moment and gave Zelda a once over, her eyes lingering in her injured foot. “And show up here with a wounded duck! You really are something, Ranger boy!”

Zelda was worried that her annoyance was genuine, but the smile she gave at the pet name gave her hope that they wouldn’t have to spend the night out in the woods again. The red head looked at her again, only now her dark blue eyes were full of warmth and not annoyance. “I’m Malon, please to meet you, hun. And your name is?”

She opened her mouth to answer truthfully, but stopped herself and remembered Link’s advice from earlier. While this girl seemed trustworthy, there were not too many Zeldas around the kingdom. “....I’m...uh, Hilda.”

Thankfully, Malon didn’t notice her hesitation or atleast didn’t show it and gave her a warm smile. “Nice to meet ya, Hilda! That foot looks like it could be in better shape. I have some medicine inside, come on in!”

Zelda couldn’t help but smile back, while their sleeping arrangements were still up in the air, they could at least get her foot back to working order. But Link hesitated and didn’t move when Malon motioned for them to come inside. “ _ Where’s Talon? Or Colin? _ ”

The farm girl’s happy demeanor fell for just a moment, “Link, relax. Both of those idiots are off on a hunt and shouldn’t be back until tomorrow night. So get yer ass inside now.”

After he still didn’t look convinced, Zelda for once took the initiative and took a step towards the doorway to which the dam finally broke and he guided her inside the house. As soon as they crossed the threshold she could immediately smell something delicious, her stomach growled a second later for the other two to hear. While Zelda blushed, Malon giggled. “Hungry I bet. Tell you what, I’ll finish making dinner if the two of you go get cleaned up. I don’t mean to be rude, but the two of ya are filthy and smell of something awful. Link I hope you remember where the stream is, yes? Good, now get. Come on Hildy, I can get the bath ready for you. And don’t worry about your clothes you can borrow some of mine.”

She felt Link let out a deep breath and nodded at the red head. “ _ Could you clean out her wound? I could only use what I had on me. _ ” 

The girl opposite him scoffed. “Of course I will, you think I just wanted her to smell nice? I’ll take good care of her, don’t worry Link.”

He seemed satisfied at her answer, although Zelda still seemed a bit weary to be separated from him she knew that they couldn’t bathe together….unfortunately. Link sensed her trepidation and gave her arm a small squeeze. “ _ Go with her, we could both use a wash. _ ”

She couldn’t argue with that statement. Zelda never considered herself a pompous or spoiled person, but spending the past day in the middle of nowhere, all while bugs bit at her bare skin as mud got caked onto her skin she couldn’t help but miss her warm bubble baths back at the castle. So she begrudgingly let go of Link’s arm and had Malon help guide her towards the bathhouse that was out back. 

She snuck one last glance back at Link, where their eyes locked. She flashed him a small smile, which he mirrored. “ _ Don’t drown, Princess. _ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There she is! Let me know how much you like/dislike my version of Malon. I'm trying to go with the shit stirring country girl if you can't tell. I think I'm going to stick with the biweekly updates, if I can give you all one piece of advice it is to not become a PHYSICS major, unless your a masochistic like me :). Anyway, your comments and kudos make my day! Thanks to my beta readers hbthingy and @eywizard on tumblr!

**Author's Note:**

> Not to boring I hope? Just want to establish both out main characters mindset before they meet, so that means Zelda's up next! I'll try and keep up with my goal of one chapter a week but until I'm on break for school I won't be able to promise that. Anyway, thanks so much for reading, see you soon!


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